
Class L C O.l . 

Book.A_S__S_2L3 
(j(9PgIitN°. 



COPtRJGMT DEPOatr. 



THE LIFE AND CAREER 



OF 



MAJOR JOHN ANDRE 







<^^f^^^?^ , -/'/z c^^/^ 



THE 



LIFE AND CAEEER 



OF 



MAJOR JOHN ANDPtE, 



ADJUTANT-GENERAL OP THE BRITISH ARMY IN AMERICA- 



BTWmTHROP SARGENT. 



NEW EDITION WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



Edited by WILLIAM ABBATT 

AUTHOR OF 

The Crisis of the Revolution, The Battle of PelVs Point. <i-c-^ 



NEW YORK : 

WILLIAM ABBATT 

281 Fourth Avenue 
1902 



OM^ 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Received 

JAN 20 >903 

CopyiigM Entiy 
CLASS CX/ »«■ No. 
COPY A. 



Copyright 1902 

By WILLIAM ABHATT 



(Original Dedication) 
1861 

TO THE 

HONORABLE JARED SPARKS, 

AS A MEMORIAL OF 

PUBLIC ADMIRATION AND PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 



EDITION LIMITED TO FIVE HUNDRED COPIES 
(SEVENTY-FIVE ON LARGE PAP*K)| 
OF WHICH THIS IS NO. 



(I<arg;e Paper, No. ) 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 




FEW years ago I published an elaborate account 
of Major Andre's meeting with Arnold, his 
subsequent attempt to return to New York, his 
capture, trial and execution. 

The favor with which this, my first book, was re- 
ceived has led me to edit and enlarge Mr. Sargent's 
"Life"— the standard on its subject. I have been able 
to add somewhat to it both in notes and illustrations, and 
have much pleasure in giving, I hope, a new lease of life 
to so admirable a biography as this, of a character whose 
accomplishments and fate have made him one of the most 
noted figures of our Revolution. 

For most of the portraits I am indebted to the kindness 
of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, of New York. 

(For the map mentioned in Mr. Sargent's Preface, I 
have substituted one drawn especially for my former 
work, several times larger and showing many more details 
than does that he refers to). 

William Abbatt. 

West Chester, N. Y., 1902. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 




HE romantic nature of the circumstances which 
connect tlie name of Major Andi-e with the his- 
tory of our Revolution induced me some time 
ago to inquire more closely into the details of 
a character that seems to have inspired so warm an 
interest in the minds of all who have had occasion 
to observe it. In this undei'taking, I am free to 
confess that my success in obtaining information has 
been commensurate neither with my labors nor desires. 
No pains indeed were spared to procure intelligence 
concerning Andre himself. Every repository that 
could be heard of was examined ; and the old-world tales 
of those who "mumble their wisdom o'er the gossip's 
bowl" have been carefully gathered and sifted. Thus, 
much curious matter more or less relevant to his story 
has been brought together from one quarter or another; 
and by joining what has hitherto scarcely been known at 
all with what every one knows, something like a connected 
sketch of his career has been compiled. Several of the 
manuscript authorities that I have made use of (such as 
the Notes of Sir Henry Clinton on a copy of Stedmau's 
American War, and the original Journals and papers of 
members of either party in our Revolution) appeared to 
me to possess no light value, and 1 thought it well to take 
advantage of an opportunity to set their contents before 
the world before the documents themselves should perish; 
for, as honest old Aubrey says—" 'tis pitie that they 
should fall into the merciless hands of women, and be put 
under pies." This consideration nuiy perhaps apologize 
for the insertion of more than one paragrajih whose 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. VII 

direct connection with the subject of this volume might 
not otherwise be very manifest. With these acquisitions, 
however, in hand, and with such sketches of the political 
and social condition of affairs during the period as nat- 
urally followed the thread of the story, the preparation 
of the following pages gave me very pleasant emplo\anent 
for some leisure country weeks. Whether they will 
prove as easy in the reading as they were in the writing is 
another question. If I have not entirely pursued the plan 
commemorated by Miguel Cervantes, and eked out my 
task with profuse histories of every giant or river which 
crosses its path, I have at least avoided pestering the 
reader with a myriad of references and authorities. 
There are indeed vouchers for the facts put forward ; but 
to drag them all in on every occasion great or small, 
would too much cumber my text. As it is, I fear that the 
critical reader will find the book amenable to the censure 
of the nobleman in Guzman D'Alfarache, who, having 
ordered a picture of his horse, complained that though 
indeed his steed was faithfully enough drawn, the canvas 
was so loaded with other objects— temples, trees, and the 
setting sun— that poor Bavieca was the least prominent 
part of the production. This is a fault of which no one 
is more conscious than myself; yet there is room for a 
hope that it may still find pardon, since many of the pas- 
sages which are not immediately personal to Andre him- 
self are nevertheless more or less involved with the 
mighty events in which he was concerned, and often are 
compiled from sources hitherto unexplored. For access 
to many of these I am especially indebted to the kindness 
of Mr. Sparks, Mr. Bancroft, and Mr. John Carter 
Brown, whose American library is the most admirable 
collection of the kind that I have ever seen in private 
hands. To Mr. Tefft of Savannah, Mr. Cope, Mr. Town- 
send Ward, and Mr. Pennington of Philadelphia, and to 



VIU AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

several others, I am under obligations for valuable aid 
and friendly suggestions. 

The map that accompanies this volume is engraved 
from a number of original military drawings by Ville- 
franche and other engineers, and preserved by Major 
Sargent of the American Army, who was stationed at 
West Point as aide to General Howe until that officer was 
relieved by Arnold. 



WiNTHBOP SaBGENT. 



Adavis County, Mississippi. 






'ouJJiyw 



7,^6^ 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 




INTHROP SARGENT was born in Philadel- 
phia September 23, 1825, being a grandson of 
Major Winthrop Sargent, of Knox's artillery 
of the Revolution, and a grand-nephew of Col- 
onel Paul Dudley Sargent who was wounded at Bunker 
Hill, and who served through the Revolution. 

"With such an ancestry it was natural that he should 
be interested in the history of our country's war for inde- 
pendence, and almost all his writings are connected with 
that subject. He studied law, graduating from the Har- 
vard Law School and the University of Pennsylvania in 
1845, and i^ractised his profession first in Philadelphia 
and afterwards in New York. 

Besides many contributions to the periodical press, he 
wrote a number of books, including the "History of Brad- 
dock's Expedition," which received the endorsement of 
Washington Irving and George Grote. 

This was followed in rapid succession by ' ' The Loyalist 
Poetry of the Revolution," "Loyal Verses of Stans- 
bury and Odell," "Les Etats Confederes et de L'Es- 
clavage" (which was published while he resided in Paris 
in 1864) and the book which is most particularly asso- 
ciated with his name, "The Life and Career op Major 
Andre." He left unfinished at his death— which occurred 
in Paris May 18, 1870— a catalogue raisonne of books re- 
lating to America. 

Mr. Duyckinck {Cyclopedia of Am. Literature) says 
of his Braddock: "It is the most thorough history that 



X MEMOIR OK THE AL'TflOK. 

has ever appeared and one of tlie best-written and most 
valuable liistorieal volumes of the country," and of his 
Andre: "It is attractive in style and of sterling value as a 
contribution to American history. ' ' 

(I regret that as Mr. Sargent's descendants have not 
replied to my requests for additional facts concerning 
his life, I am obliged to present only the foregoing meagre 
sketch of his career, for which I am indebted to the various 
encyclopaedias.) Editor. 



(Pi 
% 



CONTENTS. 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



CHAPTER I. 



Andre's Parentage, Birth, and Early Life. — Nicholas St. 
Andre. — Miss Seward. — His Courtship. — Letters to Miss 
Seward, 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Failure of Andre's Courtship. — Richard Lovell Edgeworth. — 
— Thomas Day. — Marriage and Death of Miss Sneyd, . . 31 

CHAPTER III. 

Andre joins the Army. — Visits Germany. — Condition of the 
Service. — He Comes to America. — State of American Af- 
fairs, 41 

CHAPTER IV. 

Political Condition of Massachusetts in 1774. — State of Af- 
fairs at Boston, 61 

CHAPTER V. 

Condition of Canada in 177.3. — Operations on Lake Cham- 
plain and the Sorel. — Fall of Fort St. John, and Capture 
of Andre, 76 

CHAPTER VI. 

Andre's Captivity, — Detained in Pennsylvania. — Treatment of 
Prisoners. — Andre's Relations with the Americans. — His 
Letters to Mr. Cope. — Exchange and Promotion. — Sir 
Charles Grey. — Sir Henry Clinton and the Operations on 
the Hudson, 90 



^[ CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK VII. 

The British emhnrk for Phihulelphia.— Brandy wine, the 
Paoli, and GcrnK.ntown.-Andre's Humanity.-Occupation 
and Fortification of Phihulelphia.-Character of the City 
in 1777, 

CHAPTEK VIII. 

Affairs at Philadelphia.-Disorders and ^^^^"^/^"t^T^fJJ. ?/ 
Red Bank.— Andre follows Grey with Howe to ^\ hitemai.h. 
—Character of Sir William Howe, 

CHAPTER IX. 

The British Ariuv in Philadclphia.-Features of the Occupa- 
tion —Sir William Erskine.— Abercromby.— s-imcoe.— 
Lord Cathcart.-Tarleton.-Andre's Social Relations m 
the City.— Verses composed by him.— Amateur i heatri- 
cals.-Miscondnct of the Royal Arms.-The Mischianzii.- 
Andre's Account of it.— Howe removed from the Com- ^^^ 
mand, 

CHAPTER X. 

Evacuation of Philadelphia.-Battle of Monmouth. -0158- 
taing's Arrival.-Andre accompanies Grey against ^ew 
Bedford.- His Satirical Verses on the Investment of New- 
port.— Aide to Clinton.— Character of this General.— An- 
dre's Verses upon an American Duel, 

CHAPTER XI. 

New York in 1778.-Andre's Political Essay.-His^ Favor 
Tith Clinton. -Receives the Surrender of Fort La Fayette. 
—Letter to Mrs. Arnold.— Commencement of Arnold s in- 
tricrue.- Appointed Deputy Adjutant-General.— Siege _ ot 
cferleston^Letter to Savannah.-Accused of entermg 
Charleston as a Spy, 

CHAPTER XII. 

Clinton returns to New York -Proposed Attack on Rochan> 
beau.— Plans for a Loyal Uprising.- Anecdotes of Andre. 
The Cow-Chace, 



202 



229 



257 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

Progress of Arnold's Treason. — Condition of American Af- 
fairs in 1780. — Plans for Surrendering West Point. — Let- 
ters between Andre and Arnold. — An Interview Concerted. 
— Andre's Last Hours in New York, 279' 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Robinson sent to Communicate with Arnold. — Correspond- 
ence. — Andre goes to the Vulture. — Correspondence with 
Clinton and Arnold. — Joshua Hett Smith selected as Ar- 
nold's Messenger, 301 

CHAPTER XV. 

Andre leaves the Vulture. — Interview with Arnold and its Re- 
sults. — Plans for Return. — Sets out with Smith by Land,. 320 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Andre's Journey. — Westchester County. — Skinners and Cow- 
boys. — Andre's Capture. — Various Accounts of its Circum- 
stances, 340 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Andre a prisoner in our Lines. — Intercourse with American 
Officers. — Letters to Washington. — Arnold's Escape 361 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Andre brought to West Point. — Sent to Tappan. — His Case 
submitted to a Court of Enquiry. — Its Decision approved 
by Washington, \ 378 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Andre's Deportment after the Death-Warrant. — Letters to 
Clinton, and between Washington and the British Gene- 
rals. — Plans for substituting Arnold for Andre. — The Exe- 
cution delayed, 401 

CHAPTER XX. 

Expedients of the British to procure Andre's Liberation. — 
Their Failure. — Correspondence in the Case, 419 



LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 



CHAPTER I. 




Andre's Parentage, Birth, and Early Life. — Nicholas St. Andre. — 
Miss Seward. — His Courtship. — Letters to Miss Seward. 

CCORDING to Debrett, Burke, and other gene- 
alogical authorities, John Andre was descend- 
ed from a French refugee family, settled in 
England, at Southampton, in the county of 
Hants; but whether this descent was by the paternal or 
the maternal line, does not appear. His mother, whose 
family name was Girardot, though of French jiarentage, 
was born at London. His father was a native of Geneva 
in Switzerland ; but it would seem that a very consider- 
able portion of his life must have been passed in London, 
where he carried on an extensive business in the Levant 
trade, and where also, in 1780, several of his brothers had 
their abode. Of these, Dr. Andree, of Hatton Gardens, 
was apparently the only one who preserved what is said 
to have been an earlier method of spelling the family 
name. 

Notwithstanding the establishment of a part of the 
Andre family in England, its connections upon the Con- 
tinent would appear to have been the most numerous and 
the most permanent. Indeed, the name is not an uncom- 
mon one, and the biographical dictionaries supply a num- 
erous list of persons bearing it, and distinguished in va- 
rious lines. Of course it is impossible to trace any rela- 
tionship between the majority of these and the subject of 



Z LIFE OF MAJOR ANDHE. 

this memoir. During her sojourn at Naples, not long 
after Major Andre's death, Mrs. Piozzi relates that she 
became acquainted with "the Swedish minister, Monsieur 
Andre, uncle to the lamented officer who perished in our 
sovereign's service in America:" but the only result of 
recent inquiries, set on foot in Sweden and carried as far 
as the isle of Gottland, in the Baltic, is to discredit her as- 
sertion. There exist, indeed, in that kingdom, the fam- 
ilies of Andre and Andree, which have given to the state 
men of high official rank; yet there is no reason to sup- 
pose that Major Andre was of the same blood. Turning 
to Germany, however, we are more successful. Branches 
of the stock from which he sprung have long been seated 
at Frankfort-on-the-Main and at Offenbach; some of the 
members of which are very well known to the world as 
publishers and editors of numerous musical works, and 
especially of Mozart's. The most celebrated of these was 
Johann Andre, author of the opera of The Potter, who 
was born at Offenbach in 1741, and died in 1799. 

Though as yet opportunity is wanting to verify the 
supposition, tliere is strong reason to believe that a near 
connection existed between the immediate family of 
Major Andre and the once celebrated Nicholas St. Andre 
of Southampton;— a character whose career is scarcely 
to be paralleled even in the pages of Gil Bias. This 
person came over to England, from his native Switz- 
erland, at a very early age, and, probably, towards 
the close of the seventeenth century. By his own 
account, his origin was perfectly respectable, and even 
distinguished; and in his later days he would assert 
that by right he was possessed of a title. Yet he arrived 
in England in the train of a Jewish family, and, it is said, 
in a menial position. He was related to a famous danc- 
ing-master of the same name who is mentioned in Dry- 
den's Mac Flecknoe, published in 1682: 



NICHOLAS ST. ANDRE. 3 

"St. Andre's feet ne'er kept more equal time;" 

and was himself originally destined for a fencing or a 
dancing master. His knowledge of the French tongue 
extended to all the provincial dialects, and it is conject- 
ured that he was, for a time, a teacher of that language ; 
his sister certainly followed this occupation at a Chelsea 
boarding-school. But being early placed with a surgeon, 
he rapidly acquired such a considerable, though perhaps 
superficial, knowledge in that science, that he soon rose to 
a conspicuous position, and was among the first to deliver 
public lectures upon surgery. To an invincible assur- 
ance he united such a variety of accomi^lishments that we 
need not wonder at his receiving the appointment of 
Anatomist to the Royal Household, and being presented 
by George I. with the King's own sword. He was sing- 
ularly expert not only in manly exercises, such as fencing, 
I'unning, jumping, or riding the great horse, but also in 
pursuits that involve the emjilojanent of mental ingenuity. 
At chess he was an adept ; and his pretensions in botany, 
architecture, and music, were very respectable. Indeed, 
his skill with the viol de gamba was something remark- 
able. In 1723, he printed an account of a mysterious 
adventure that had nearly cost him his life. His story 
made a great sensation at the time, and the Privy Council 
offered a reward for the detection of his assailants ; but 
it has not always encountered implicit confidence. A 
little later, however, he became involved in another affair 
by which his professional reputation was hopelessly 
damaged. It seems that when the impostor Mary Tofts, 
the rabbit-breeder of Godalming, came forth with her 
wonderful tale, St. Andre was among the readiest of her 
believers. He professed to have examined carefully into 
the matter, and that the story she told was entirely faith- 
ful. It is difficult at this day to rightly estimate the 
credulity of the English people on that occasion. High 



4 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

and low were infected with the absurd conviction that the 
race of rabbits were of the children of men. "The public 
horror was so great that the rent of rabbit-warrens sank 
to nothing; and nobody, till the delusion was over, pre- 
sumed to eat a rabbit." The learned "Whiston not only 
devoutly believed the fable, but wrote a pamphlet to 
prove, in its occurrence, the fultilment of a prophecy in 
Esdras. In short, as Lord Onslow wrote to the great 
naturalist, Sir Hans Sloane, (Dec. 4, 1726) all England 
was disturbed by this story. But Queen Caroline having 
charged Dr. Cheselden to investigate the matter, the 
imposture was speedily exposed, and they whose counte- 
nance had given it all its weight were now visited with a 
full measui'e of public opprobrium. Swift, and perhaps 
Arbuthnot, had already taken up the pen against St. 
Andre, and now Hogarth seized on him. In the print of 
Mary Tofts, he is introduced ; and in another entitled The 
Wise Men of Godliman, the figure marked A is designed 
for the court anatomist. Again, in the print of The 
Doctors in Labor, he figures as a merry-andrew ; and by 
a host of coarse caricatures and doggerel ballads his 
weakness was stigmatized and made yet more ridiculous. 
In December, 1726, the affair was burlesqued upon the 
stage,— a new rabbit-scene being added to the play of 
The Necromancer; and in 1727, the ballad of St. Andre's 
Miscarriage was simg through the streets : 

"He dissected, compared, and distinguish'd likewise, 
The make of these rabbits, their growth and their size; 
He preserv'd them in spirits and — a little too late, 
Preserv'd {Vertue sculpsit) a neat copperplate." 

The consequence was, that on his return to Court he was 
so coldly treated that he would never reappear; nor, 
though continuing to hold his appointment till his death, 
would he touch the official salary. A more amusing cir- 
cumstance was his testiness for the future upon the sub- 



jeet of rabbits ; absolutely forbidding any allusion, even 
to their name, being ever again made in his presence. 

On the 27th of May, 1730, St. Andre married Lady 
Betty Molyneux, the childless widow of Samuel Molyneux, 
M. P., who brought him, it was said, £30,000. The lady's 
conduct was so imprudent that she was forthwith dis- 
missed by the Queen from her service. Mr. Molyneux 
was but recently dead, and whisi^ers named her as his 
murderer : nor did her second husband escape a share of 
the imputation". The Rev. Dr. Madden, of Dublin, how- 
ever, having made use of this scandal in a pamphlet, St. 
Andre at once prosecuted him successfully for defama- 
tion. But the accusation has been immortalized by Pope, 
in the second dialogue of the Epilogue to his Satires, 
where "the poisoning dame" is brought into discussion. 
St. Andre had once the good fortune to attend the poet 
when he was upset in Lord Bolingbroke's coach as it 
returned from Dawley. His fingers were incurably 
wounded, and this being the nearest surgeon, was called 
in.* About 1755, he took up his permanent abode at 
Southampton. The greater part of the property that 
came with Lady Betty passed on her death to Sir Capel 
Molyneux; and St. Andre's expensive tastes dissipated 
much of what remained. Architecture was one of his 
hobbies ; and large sums were squandered on a house at 
Chepstow. About a mile's distance from Southampton, 
he erected a thoroughly inconvenient dwelling, which he 
called Belle-Vue, and boasted it as constructed "on the 

* St. Andre is also, truly or falsely, reported as having had a 
share in a strange rencontre between the Earl of Peterboro and his 
guest, the famous Voltaire, on occasion of the detection of the 
latter in a piece of pecuniary dishonesty. The earl would have 
slain him but for the presence of St. Andre, who held him tightly 
while Voltaire fled — not only from the house, but from the king- 
dom.— (?e«^. Mag., 1797. 



t) LIFE OK MAJOR ANDRE. 

true principles of anatomy." He had, however, another 
dvrellinij: within the town, with a large and valuable 
lilirary; and here he died in March, 1776, being then up- 
wards of ninety-six years of age. 

St. Andre is represented as having been loose in relig- 
ion and in morals ; of a vivacious and agreeable manner 
in conversation; his speech abounding in foreign idioms; 
his countenance tierce and muscular. In earlier life his 
manners must have been i>olite and graceful, from the 
social positions to which he rose; but" Nichols, who 
wrote of him after death, and who characterizes him as 
"a profligate man of an amorous constitution," declares 
that "no man will be hardy enough to assert that the fig- 
ure, manners, and language of St. Andre were those of a 
gentleman. ' ' 

Such was the character with whom, as has already been 
observed, John Andre was probably nearly allied by blood 
as well by name; though why the latter was altered to 
Andre or Andree, we do not know. It is not likely that 
any of the lineage now reside in England. About 1S20 
or 1S25, when a young French gentleman, M. Ernest 
Andre, came over from Paris on a ^dsit to the surviving 
sisters of Major Andre, he was declared by those ladies 
to be their nearest living relative. ' 

Where John Andre was born, cannot with certainty be 
stated. It may have occurred at London, where his fa- 
ther, after the fashion of of those days, had long had his 
dwelling and his place of business under one roof, in 
AVarnford C(nirt. Throgniorton Street. Or it may have 
been at Soutliamptou, since in 1780 we lind his mother, 
then a widow and chiefly residing with her brother, Mr. 
Girardot, in Old Broad Street, London, yet still posses- 
sing a house there. We are able to fix the date of Ms 
birth with more accuracy; although, even on this head, 



EARLY LIFE. 



the contemporaneous accounts are conflicting: one point- 
ing to the year 1749, and another to 1752 ; while Rose puts 
it at London, in 1750. But tlie monumental inscription in 
Westminster Ahbey that says "he fell a sacrifice to his 
zeal for his king and country, on the 2d of October, 1780, 
aged twenty-nine," and which is followed by Lord Mahon, 
is borne out by a letter of Andre's own, written in Octo- 
ber, 1769, in which he speaks of himself as "a poor novice 
of eighteen." Hence we may fairly ascribe the period 
of his birth to the year 1751. 

The very little that is known respecting Andre's earlier 
years, renders it proper to be particular in presenting to 
the reader such details, naked though they be, as can now 
be laid hold of; and even these do not always agree, as 
they come to us from his contemporaries. One story 
gives Westminstei- as the scene of his education, and with 
a particularity that brings to mind the circumstantial 
evidence of Sheridan's double-letter scene, even fixes the 
date "near the latter end of Dr. Markham's time, now 
Archbishop of York. ' ' In this case, he might have had 
for school-mates Thomas and Charles Cotesworth Pinck- 
ney, so renowned afterwards in the service of their coun- 
try in the war that cost Andre his life ; while for a master 
he would have had a man whom Gibbon distinguished, 
among the whole bench of English bishops, for eminent 
scholarship and sldll in the instruction of youth. This 
was the prelate, too, whose feelings towards insurgent 
America are thus alluded to by Lord John Townshend : 

"To Cranmer's stake be Adams ty'd; 
Mild Jtarkham preaching b}' his side 

The traitor's heart will gain: 
For if he sees the blaze expire, 
Locke's works he'll fling to wake the fire. 

And put him out of pain." 



8 LIFE OF JIAJOR ANDR^. 

Another aooouiit, however, says that he was first ])lacecl at 
Hackney, nnder a Air. Newcombe; whence he was after a 
time withdrawn, and sent for several years to Geneva to 
complete his education. It may be that both of these 
stories are correct; that from ITackney he went to St. 
Paul's, and thence to Geneva; but wherever he was 
taught, his acquirements we're such as to reflect honor 
alike on the teacher and the pupil. He was master of 
many things that in those days very rarely constituted a 
part of a gentleman's education, and which, indeed, even 
in these are to be found rather in exceptions than the 
rule. The modern European languages— French, Ger- 
man. Italian, &c.— are said to have been possessed by 
him in singular perfection; while in music, painting, 
drawing, and dancing, he particularlj^ excelled. "When 
we consider that with these accomplishments was joined 
a natiire always ambitious for distinction, a mind stored 
with the belles left res of the day, and endowed not only 
with a taste for poetry, but with a considerable readiness 
in its com]iosition; and a person which, though slender, 
was remarkably active and graceful, we need not wonder 
that his attractions were such as to win the favor of all 
with whom he came Ln contact. At the university of 
Geneva, he was remarked for a diligent student, and for 
an active and inquiring mind; and in special was dis- 
tinguished by his proficiency in the schools of mathe- 
matics and of military drawings. To his skill in this 
last branch, his subsequent rapid advancement in the 
army was in part attributable. 

Andre's father was a respectable merchant, whose suc- 
cess had been sufficiently great to con\nnce him that his 
own profession was the very best his son could embrace; 
yet not sufficient to enable him to give that son a fortune 
which would permit him to follow the bent of his own 
inclinations. In this relation, it would seem as though 



EARLY LIFE. 9 

the old gentleman bad pursued very mucli the same 
course as that adopted by the elder Osbaldistone, in Rob 
Roy; and to a certain extent the consequences were alike. 
Summoned home from the Continent, young Andre found 
a place assigned him in bis father's counting-bouse, 
where for some time he appears to have undergone that 
training which it was hoped and expected would enable 
bim to carry on successfully the business that bad already 
afforded a competency to its founder. For, in the pro- 
cess of time, his father bad found himself in condition to 
withdraw from at least the more laborious cares of bis 
affairs, and, abandoning the residence in Throgmorton 
Street, had removed bis household to a country-seat at 
Clapton, called The Manor House. This building, now 
used for a school, is still standing oj^posite to Brook 
House, Clapton Gate; and the graves of several of its 
former occupants are to be seen in Hackney churchyard, 
hard by the old tower. 

Although at this stage in his career there is no evidence 
that John Andre 's conduct was that of 

"A clerk foredoomed his father's soul to cross, 
Who i^ens a stanza when he should engross;" 

yet we may fairly infer, from his own language, that the 
commercial line of life chalked out for bim was less to his 
taste than the profession of arms ; that, like young Frank 
Osbaldistone, in preference to any other active pursuit, 
be would choose the army; and that the desk and stool 
"by a small-coal tire in a gloomy compting-bouse in 
Warnford Court," would have been joyfully exchanged 
for the sash and gorget, and any barrack-yard in the 
United Kingdom. The bent of bis studies at Geneva 
must have satisfied bis judgment as to the sphere in which 
be was best calculated to attain success. But his years 
were too few to enable bim to oppose bis father's wishes; 



10 



LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 



aud iu 1767 or 1768, when about sixteen or seventeen years 
of age, lie entered the counting-house. Nor did the death 
of his father, which occurred at the house in Clapton, in 
April, 1769, make at the time any material difference in 
the nature of his avocations. 

What family was left by the elder Andre can only be 
gathered from the fact that in 1780, besides his widow, 
there still remained a second son, William Lewis, who 
was eight years behind his brother ; and three daughters, 
Louisa Catherine, Mary Hannah, and Anne. The last is 
said to have been distinguished for a poetical talent. In 
her Monody, Miss Seward thus makes her hero address 
this little domestic band on his departure for America: 

"Dim clouds of Woe ! ye veil each sprightly grace 
That us'd to sparkle in Makia's face. 
My tuneful Axna to her lute complains. 
But Grief's fond throbs arrest the parting strains. 
Fair as the silver blossom on tlie thorn, 
Soft as tlie spirit of the vernal morn, 
Louisa, chase tliose trembling fears, that prove 
Th' ungovern'd terrors of a sister's love; 
Tliey bend thy sweet head, like yon lucid flow'r 
That shrinks and fades beneath the summer's show'r. 
Oh ! smile, my sisters, on this destin'd day, 
And with the radiant omen gild my way!" 

Of these sisters, Louisa Catherine was born about 1754,. 
and Maiy Hannah about 1752, according to the inscrip- 
tions in the churchyard at Bath-Hampton, where they are 
buried;— the last of these two dates going far to fix that 
of Major Andre's birth as of 1751. 

In 1780 also there were yet living at London two broth- 
ers of the elder Andre : Mr. David Andre of New Broad 
Street, and Mr. John Lewis Andre, of Warnford Court, 
Throgmorton Street ; who were known to the community 
as respectable Turkey merchants, and who doubtless still 
carried on at the old place the business in which their 



MISS SEWARD. 11 

brother had prospered well, but which their nephews had 
declined. For it was not John alone who renounced the 
ledger for the spontoon. Not very long after lie entered 
the army he was followed by his only brother, whose years 
forbid the supposition that he could ever have had any 
prolonged experience in the mysteries of trade. 

During some months after his father's death, John An- 
dre was probably sufficiently occupied with new and urgent 
cares, to prevent his taking any active step towards free- 
ing himself from the chains of business. From circum- 
stances we may conclude that the summer of 1769— the 
year in which he became the head of his mother's house— 
was passed by the family at Buxton, Matlock, and other 
places in the interior of England, whither it was custom- 
ary for invalids, and persons whose health was impaired 
by aSiiction, to resort for relief and change of scene : and 
if it was not now that he first became acquainted with Miss 
Seward, it is at least almost certain that he formed with 
another lady a friendship that left its coloring on the 
whole of his future life. 

Anna Seward, the eulogist of Major Andre, was born 
at Eyam, in Derbyshire, in 1747. The bishop's palace at 
Lichfield, in which her father— who was a canon of the 
cathedral there— resided, was the headquarters of the 
literary world of that region, and of the better classes of 
society generally; and we are told, by one well fitted to 
judge, that at this period Miss Seward, by grace and 
beauty of person, and by conversational skill, was amply 
qualified to maintain the attractions of the house. She 
was besides of an enthusiastic, not to say romantic dis- 
position, and not a little addicted to the perpetration of 
a sort of poetry, "most of which," says her friend and 
biographer, Sir Walter Scott, "is absolutely execrable." 
With many virtues she appears to have possessed a eer- 



12 LXFE OF MAJOR AJsDkL 

tain spice of that self-conceit which results from an exag- 
gerated opinion of one's own capacity, and in the writings 
of her contemporaries occur more than one sarcastic 
allnsion that savors rather of personal than of literary 
animadversion. But between Andre and herself no other 
feeling than of delicate and tender friendship seems ever 
to have subsisted: and the lines in which she bewailed 
his unhappy fate were evidently the genuine expression 
of her sorrow and regret. 

The character of the society at Lichfield has already 
been referred to. The little circle that was accustomed 
to pay its homage to Miss Seward and to receive her 
smiles and praises in return, if not a constellation of the 
first magnitude, comprised at least many names which in 
those days occupied a respectable rank in the republic of 
letters. Foremost among them was Dr. Darwin, the 
author of the Botanic Garden, but, unless we except the 
lines— 

"Soon shall thy arm. unconqaered steam, afar 
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car." 

better known to this generation by Caiming's sarcastic 
parody, the Loves of the Triongles. than by anything of 
his own. Then follow Hay ley. the author of the Tri- 
umphs of Temper; Sir Brooke Boothby: Eichard LoveU 
Edgeworth; the eccentric Thomas Day, whose story of 
Sandford and Merton for a time rivalled even Robinson 
Crusoe in popularity; and others, either residents of 
Lichfield or sojourners who had been attracted thither by 
*'its good report." Thus established the magnates of a 
provincial town stifficiently remote from London to be be- 
yond many of the terrors of its superior authority, the 
cathedral critics of Lichfield lived and wrote, and praised 
each other for great authors, and were we may suppose aa 
happy as this belief could make them. 



COrRTSHIP. 13 

A traveller iu England, shortly after Major Andre's 
death, relates that being in 1782 at Hagley, the seat of 
Earl Ferrers and the scene of many of the younger Lji;- 
tleton's extraordinary exploits, he was assured by his 
lordship's brother-in-law, Mr. Green, of Portugal House, 
Birmingham, that at the very mansion they were then iu 
he had introduced the unfortunate Major Andre to ^liss 
Seward, afterwards so well known for her genius, her 
connection with Andre, and her sorrows. We may pre- 
sume that this introduction occurred in the summer of 
1769. 

At this time the family of Mr. Thomas Seward com- 
prised not only his wife and his daughter Anna, but also a 
young lady. Miss Honora Sneyd, a daughter of Edward, 
the youngest son of Ralph Sneyd, Esq., of Bishtou, in 
Staffordshire. Mrs. Sneyd dying at an early period, 
the daughters were kindly taken in charge by her friends 
and kindred, and the care of Honora fell to the faithful 
hands of Mrs. Seward. As nearer her own age, a greater 
intimacy than with Anna naturally grew up between the 
orphan and Miss Sally Seward, a yoimger sister ; but she 
dying when Honora was thirteen, the latter was left to 
the immediate companionship of the elder daughter, from 
whom she derived much of her literary taste. In all re- 
spects, we are told. Miss Sneyd was treated as one of Mrs. 
Seward's family, and it was impossible to perceive that 
any discrimination was made by the mother between her 
own and her adopted child. 

"It was at Buxton or at Matlock," says Mr. Edge- 
worth, "that Andre first met Honora Sneyd." Matlock 
Bath, about two miles from the straggling little \'illage of 
Matlock in Derbyshire, was a favorite watering-place, 
where a jjleasant freedom of social intercourse is said to 
have then prevailed. People coming together for the first 



14 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

time, and passing weeks in the same house, were content 
to regai'd each other as acquaintances and to have their 
enjoyments in common. The spot itself is singularly 
picturesque, lying on the side of the Masson Hill, to 
whose summit a path was contrived through a grove of 
fir-trees. On every hand, the eye rests upon the lofty 
Tors, or hills of the region; and the Lover's Walk, by 
the river Derwent, was doubtless then as it now is chosen 
for many a happy stroll. Buxton too was celebrated 
for it medicinal wells, and was also in the Peak of Der- 
byshire. Mr. Seward had a living in the Peak, whither 
in his summer visits he was accompanied by his daugh- 
ter, and probably by others of his household,— at all 
events, it was at Buxton that the two families, from Lich- 
field and from Clapton, were together in the summer of 
1769, and it was there that the young merchant of Warn- 
foi'd Court became so irretrievably enamored of a lady 
whose charms seem by all accounts to have been sufficient 
to subdue less susceptible hearts than his own. A mezzo- 
tinto engraving after Romney, which was esteemed by 
her friends as the perfect, though unintentional resemb- 
lance of Houora Sneyd at a period "when she was sur- 
rounded by her virgin glories,— beauty and grace, 
sensibility and goodness, superior intelligence and 
unswerving truth,"— conveys an idea of charms that 
would justify the description of her at this period by the 
man who should best be entitled to pronounce a verdict: 
"Her memory," said her future husband, "was not co- 
piously stored with poetry; and, though in no way 
deficient, her knowledge had not been much enlarged by 
books; but her sentiments were on all subjects so just, 
and were delivered with such blushing modesty,— though 
not without an air of conscious worth— as to command 
attention from every one capable of ajipreeiating female 
excellence. Her person was graceful, her features beau- 



COUKTSHIP. 15 

tiful, and their expression such as to heighten the elo- 
quence of everything she said." Blue eyes and golden 
hair were the inheritance of the family; but in her face 
there would seem to have even now been visible some 
hectic trait— some negative sjnnbol of that latent dis- 
order, which at fifteen years had threatened her life, and 
by which it was finally to be concluded. 

Such being Honora's graces, it is no wonder that Andre 
was as heartily and as quickly impressed by them as many 
others were doomed to be ; nor is it strange that he should 
speedily have awakened a corresponding sentiment in 
the fair one's breast. It is one of the most attractive 
features of his character, that— imlike many who are the 
life and idol of every circle but their own, and are charm- 
ing everywhere but at home— Andre was even more 
prized by his nearest familiars than by the world with- 
out. The better he was known, the better he was loved; 
and the endearing aj^pellation of cher Jean, which was 
constantly bestowed ui^on him by his family, soon found 
a place on the lips of his friends. A glance at his por- 
trait will go far to explain this secret of inspiring attach- 
ment. His features, as delicate in their lines and expres- 
sion as those of a woman, at once reveal a tenderness and 
a vivacity that could scarcely belong to a disposition not 
originally possessed of a very considerable degree of 
natural refinement. To what extent these characteristics 
were developed and increased by cultivation will in time 
appear. 

It does not seem that the lovers at Buxton were long in 
coming to an understanding. Miss Seward, both then 
and afterwards, took a deep interest in the affair and 
looked with the fullest favor on the suitor. An oppor- 
tunity was soon afforded for him to make his earliest 
essay at painting the likeness of a human face, and two 



IC LIFE OP MAJOR ANDRE. 

miniatures of Miss Sneyd were the first fruits of his 
pencil. One of these— apparently the least perfect— he 
gave at the time to Miss Seward, wlio retained it through 
her life: the other was, of course, reserved by the artist 
for his own consolation, although the favorable reception 
which his addresses had received on all hands must have 
given him abundant reason to hope for the ultimate pos- 
session of the beautiful original. It was not until they had 
reflected on the youth of both parties in respect to wed- 
lock, and the absence of present means to enable them to 
be provided with such a maintenance as they had each 
been brought iip to anticipate, that the seniors looked 
coldly on the atfair. And even then, the most that was 
agreed upon by Airs. Andre and Mr. Sneyd, was that 
since an immediate marriage was out of the question, and 
a long engagement between the two very young people, 
separated by a distance of a hundred miles or more, was 
not desirable, it was wiser that they should be kept apart 
as much as possible, trusting that time would either wean 
them from their attachment, or bring the means of grati- 
fying it. On these terms the parting took place; but it 
will be seen that, as might have been expected under such 
circumstances, one if not both of the lovers regarded it 
as anything but final. It even seems, from the first of the 
letters presently to be given, that Andre accompanied 
Miss Seward and Miss Sneyd on their return to Lichfield ; 
and by letters and by personal interviews, an intercourse 
was ke]it up between them for some months longer. 

It was during the progress of his courtship at Buxton, 
that Andre made known to his Lichfield friends his aver- 
sion to commerce, and probably his desire for the army. 
The representations of Miss Seward that it was so much 
for his interest in every way to adhere steadily to his pres- 
ent employment, and above all that it was the only 
means by which he could procure the wealth necessary 



COURTSHIP. 17 

to secure liis union with Miss Sneyd, prevailed upon 
him for a season to stick to the desk. "WTien an im- 
pertinent consciousness," he says, "whispers in my ear, 
that I am not of the right stuff for a merchant, I draw 
my Honora's picture from my bosom, and the sight of 
that dear talisman so inspires mj^ industry, that no toil 
api3ears oppressive." The reader may compare with 
some interest this confession with the sentiments, lit- 
tered at the same period, of another young occupant of 
a stool in a counting-house, whose career was destined 
to cross Andre's in the most interesting period of his 
life. "I contemn," wrote Alexander Hamilton, in 1769, 
"the grovelling condition of a desk, to which my fortune 
condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, though 
not my character, to exalt my station ; I mean to pre- 
pare the way for futurity." 

Before Andre parted from "the dear Lichfieldians," 
to return to Clapton and his daily avocations in Throg- 
morton Street, a correspondence appears to have been 
arranged between Miss Seward and himself, the bur- 
den of which, as may well be guessed, was to be Honora. 
His epistles, which sometime covered letters to Miss 
Sneyd, were evidently designed to pass from the hands 
of his fair correspondent to those of her adopted sis- 
ter; while in return he would receive every intelli- 
gence of the young lady's movements and welfare, and 
occasionally a postscript from her own pen. There 
was nothing clandestine in this arrangement, little in- 
deed as it may have accorded with the plans of the par- 
ents of the lovers. Miss Sneyd 's conduct throughout, 
seems to have been ingenuous and discreet ; while An- 
dre availed himself of a fair and friendly means of ob- 
taining that information which was naturally so desir- 
able to one in his position. His letters were often 



18 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

adoi-ned with hasty pen or pencil sketches of such ob- 
jects of interest as were germain to the text, and the 
specimens which follow give ample ])roof, as Miss Se- 
ward justly observes, of his wit and vivacity. "His 
epistolary writings," says Mr. Sparks, "so far as speci- 
mens of them have been i^reserved, show a delicacy of 
sentiment, a playfulness of imagination, and an ease of 
style, which could proceed only from native refinement 
and a high degree of culture." "The best means, next 
to biography written by the person himself, to obtain- 
ing an insight into his character, is afforded," remarks 
Maria Edgeworth, "by his private letters." There is 
sufficient excuse in their own contents for here present- 
ing those of Andre to Miss Seward ; but the reason sug- 
gested by Miss Edgeworth affords an additional motive. 
It will be observed that he addresses the lady as his 
Julia ; for no other cause that can be guessed at but 
that her real name was Anna. But such tricks of the 
pen were then counted among the delicacies of a senti- 
mental correspondence ; as is pleasantly described in 
L'Amie Inconnue. 

The journey to Shrewsbury, alluded to below, was 
made to visit Elizabeth, Mr. Sneyd's fifth daughter, who 
had been brought up by and resided with her relatives, 
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Powys of the Abbey. The letters 
themselves were first printed in connection with Miss 
Seward's Monody upon their writer. 

Mr. Andre to Miss Seward. 

Clapton, Oct. 3, 17G9. 

From their agreeable excursion to Shrewsbury, my 

dearest friends are by this time returned to their beloved 

Lichfield. Once again have they beheld those fortunate 

spires, the constant witnesses of all their pains and 



LETTEES TO MISS SEWARD. 19 

pleasures. I can well conceive the emotions of joy which, 
their first appearance, from the neighboring hills, ex- 
cites after absence ; they seem to welcome you home, and 
invite you to reiterate those hours of happiness, of which 
they are a species of monument. I shall have an eternal 
love and reverence for them. Never shall I forget the 
joy that danced in Honora's eyes, when she first shewed 
them to me from Needwood Forest, on our return with 
you from Buxton to Lichfield. I remember she called 
them the ladies of the valley,— their lightness and ele- 
gance deserve the title. Oh! how I loved them from that 
instant! My enthusiasm concerning them is carried 
farther even than yours and Honora's, for every object 
that has a pyramidical form, recalls them to my recol- 
lection, with a sensation that brings the tear of pleasure 
into my eyes. 

How happy you must have been at Shrewsbury ! only 
that you tell me, alas ! that dear Honora was not so well 
as you wished during your stay there.— I always hope 
the best. My impatient spirit rejects every obtruding 
idea, which I have not fortitude to support.— Dr. Dar- 
win's skill, and your tender care, will remove that sad 
pain in her side, which makes writing troublesome and in- 
jurious to her; which robs her poor CJier Jean of those 
precious pages, with which, he flatters himself, she would 
otherwise have indulged him. 

So your happiness at Shrewsbury scorned to be in- 
debted to piiblic amusements! Five virgins— united 
in the soft bonds of friendship ! How I should have 
liked to have made the sixth!— But you surprise me 
by such an absolute exclusion of the Beaux:— I certainly 
thought that when five wise virgins were watching at 
midnight it must have been in expectation of the bride- 
groom's coming. 



20 LIFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

We are at this instant five virgins, writing round the 
same table— my throe sisters, Mr. Ewer, and myself. I 
beg no reflections injurious to the honor of poor Cher 
Jean. My mother is gone to iiay a visit, and has left 
us in possession of the old ooaeli ; but as for nags, we 
can boast of only two long-tails, and my sisters say they 
are sorry cattle, being no other than my friend Ewer and 
myself, who, to say truth, have enormous pig-tails. 

My dear Boissier is come to town ; he has brought a 
little of the soldier witli him, but he is the same honest, 
warm, intelligent friend I always found him. He sacri- 
fices the town diversions, since I will not partake of them. 

"We are jealous of your correspondents, who are so nu- 
merous.— Yet, write to the Andres often, my dear Julia, 
for who are they that will value your letters quite so 
much as we value them ? — The least scrap of a letter 
will be received with the greatest joy ; write, therefore, 
tho' it were only to give us the comfort of having a piece 
of jiajier which has recently passed thro' your hands ; — 
Honora will put in a little postscript, were it only to tell 
me that she is my very sincere friend, who will neither 
give me love nor comfort— very short indeed, Honora, 
was thy last postscript !— But I am too presumptuous ; 
—I will not scratch out, but I »Hsay— from the little 
there was I received more joy than I deserve.— This Cher 
Jean is an impertinent fellow, but he will grow discreet in 
time;— you nuist consider him as a poor no^"ice of eight- 
een, who for all the sins he may commit is sufficiently 
punished in the single evil of being one hundred and 
twenty miles from Lichfield. 

My mother and sisters will go to Putney in a few daj-s 
to stay sometime ; —we none of us like Clapton :— / need 
not care, for I am all day long in town ; but it is avoiding 
Scylla to fall into Charybdis. You paint to me the pleas- 



LETTERS TO MISS SEWARD. 21 

ant vale of Stow in the richest autumnal coloring. In re- 
turn, I must tell you that my zephyrs are wafted through 
cracks in the wainscot; for murmuring streams, I have 
dirty kennels; for bleating flocks, grunting pigs; and 
squalling cats for birds that incessantly warble. I have 
said something of this sort in my letter to Miss Spear- 
man, and am twinged with the idea of these letters being 
confronted, and that I shall recall to your memory the fat 
Knight's love-letters to Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page. 

Julia, perhaps thou fanciest I am merry. Alas! 
But I do not wish to make you as doleful as myself ; and 
besides, when I would express the tender feelings of my 
soul, I have no language which does them any justice ; 
if I had, I should regret that you could not have it fresher, 
and that whatever one communicates by letter must go 
such a roundabout way, before it reaches one's corre- 
spondent: from the writer's heart through his head, 
arm, hand, pen, ink, paper, over many a weary hill and 
dale, to the eye, head and heart of the reader. I have 
often regretted our not possessing a sort of faculty which 
should enable our sensations, remarks, &c., to arise from 
their source in a sort of exhalation, and fall upon our 
paper in words and phrases properly adapted to express 
them, without passing through an imagination whose op- 
erations so often fail to second those of the heart. Then 
what a metamorphose we should see in people's style ! 
How eloquent those who are truly attached ! how stupid 
they who falsely profess affection ! Perhaps the former 
had never been able to express half their regard ; while 
the latter, by their flowers of rhetoric, had made us be- 
lieve a thousand times more than they ever felt— but this 
is whimsical moralizing. 

My sisters' Penserosos were dispersed on their arrival 
in town, by the joy of seeing Louisa and their dear little 



22 LIFE 01' MAJOK AKDRE. 

Brother Billy again, our kind and excellent Uncle Gi- 
rardot, and Uncle Lewis Andre. I was glad to see them, 
but they complained, not without reason, of the gloom 
upon my countenance. Billy wept for joy that we were 
returned, while poor Cher Jean was ready to weep for 
sorrow. Louisa is grown still handsomer since we left 
her. Our sisters Mary and Anne, knowing your par- 
tiality to beauty, are afraid that when they shall intro- 
duce her to you, she will put their noses out of joint. 
Billy is not old enough for me to be afraid of in the rival- 
way, else I should keep him aloof, for his heart is formed 
of those affectionate materials, so dear to the ingenuous 
taste of Julia and her Houora. 

I sympathize in your resentment against the canonical 
Dons, who stumpify the heads of those good green people, 
beneath whose friendly shade so many of your happiest 
hours have glided away, — but they defy them ; let them 
stumpify as much as they please, time will repair the mis- 
chief, — their verdant arms will again extend, and invite 
you to their shelter. 

The evenings grow long. I hope your conversation 
round the fire will sometimes fall on the Andres ; it will 
be a great comfort to them that they are remembered. 
We chink our glasses to your health at every meal: 
"Here's to our Lichfieldian friends," says Nanny;— 
"Oh-h," says Mary;— "With all my soul," say I;— 
"Allons," cries my mother;— and the draught seems 
nectar. The libation made, we begin our unclojang 
themes, and so beguile the gloomy evening. 

Mr. and Mrs. Seward will accept my most affectionate 
respects. My male friend at Lichfield will join in your 
conversation on the Andres. Among the numerous good 
qualities he is possessed of, he certainly has gratitude, 
and then he cannot forget those who so sincei'ely love 



LETTERS TO MISS SEWABD. 23 

and esteem him. I, in particular, shall always recall 
with pleasure the happy hours I have passed in his com- 
pany. My friendship for him, and for his family, has 
diffused itself, like the precious ointment from Aaron's 
beard, on every thing which surrounds you, therefore I 
beg that you would give my amities to the whole town. 
Persuade Honora to forgive the length and ardor of the 
enclosed, and believe me truly your affectionate and faith- 
ful friend, J. Andee. 

Mr. Peter Boissier, of the 11th Dragoons, and Mr. Wal- 
ter Ewer, Jr., of Dyer's Court, Aldermanbury, (son, it 
is said, of William Ewer, Esq., in 1788 a director of the 
Bank of England,) who are mentioned in the preceding 
letter, were valued friends of Andre's, and are affection- 
ately remembered in his will.* 

Mr. Andre to Miss Seward. 

London, Oct. 19, 1769. 
From the midst of books, papers, bills, and other im- 
plements of gain, let me lift up my drowsy head awhile 
to converse with dear Julia. And first, as I know she has 
a fervent wish to see me a quill-driver, I must tell her, 
that I begin, as people are wont to do, to look upon my 
future profession with great partiality. I no longer see 
it in so disadvantageous a light. Instead of figuring a 
merchant as a middle-aged man, with a bob-wig, a rough 
beard, in snuff-colored clothes, grasi^ing a guinea in his 
red hand, I conceive a comely young man, with a toler- 
able pig-tail, wielding a pen with all the noble fierceness 
of the Duke of Marlborough brandishing a truncheon 
upon a sign-post, surrounded with types and emblems, 
and canopied with cornucopias that disembogue their 
stores upon his head ; Mercuries reclined upon bales of 

* See Appendix. 



24 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

goods ; Genii playing with jjens, ink, and pajwr ; while, 
in perspective, his gorgeous vessels, "launched on the 
bosom of the silver Thames," are wafting to distant 
lands the produce of this commercial nation. Thus all 
the mei'cantile glories croud on my fancy, emblazoned 
in the most refulgent colouring of an ardent imagination. 
Borne on her soaring pinions I wing my flight to the time 
when Heaven shall have crowned my labors with success 
and opulence. I see sumptuous palaces rising to receive 
me ; I see orphans and widows, and painters, and fiddlers, 
and poets, and builders, protected and encouraged ; and 
when the fabric is pretty nearly finished by my shattered 
pericranium, I cast my eyes around, and find John An- 
dre, by a small-coal fii-e, in a gloomy compting-house in 
Warnford Court, nothing so little as what he has been 
making himself, and, in all probability, never to be much 
more than he is at present. But oh ! my dear Honora ! 
—it is for thy sake only I wish for wealth.— You say she 
was somewhat better at the time you wrote last. I must 
flatter myself that she will soon be without any remains 
of this threatening disease. 

It is seven o 'clock : you and Honora, with two or three 
more select friends, are now probably encircling your 
dressing-room fireplace. \Miat would I not give to en- 
large that circle ! The idea of a clean hearth, and a snug 
circle round it, formed by a few select friends, transjiorts 
me. You seem combined together against the inclemency 
of the weather, the hurry, bustle, cei-emony, censorious- 
ness, and emy of the world. The purity, the warmth, 
the kindly influence of fire— to all for whom it is kindled— 
is a good emblem of the friendship of such amiable minds 
as Julia's and her Honora 's. Since I cannot be there 
in reality, pray imagine me with you ; admit me to your 
conversationes,— think how I wish for the blessing of 




HONORA SNEYD. 



ANNA SEWARD. 



LETTERS TO MISS SEWAED. 25 

joining them ! and be persuaded that I take part in all 
your pleasures, in the dear hope, that ere very long, your 
blazing hearth will burn again for me. Pray keep me 
a place ;— let the poker, tongs, or shovel, represent me. 
But you have Dutch tiles, which are infinitely better ; so 
let Moses, or Aaron, or Balaam's ass be my representa- 
tive. 

But time calls me to Clapton. I quit you abruptly till 
to-morrow, when, if I do not tear the nonsense I have 
been writing, I may j^erhaps increase its quantity. Sig- 
nora Cynthia is in clouded majesty. Silvered with her 
beams, I am about to jog to Clapton upon my own stumps ; 
musing as I homeward plod my way— ah ! need I name the 
subject of my contemplations "! 

Thursday. 
I had a sweet walk home last night, and found the Clap- 
tonians, with their fair guest, a Miss Mourgue, very well. 
My sisters send their amities, and will write in a few days. 

This morning I returned to town. It has been the 
finest day imaginable; a solemn mildness was diffused 
throughout the blue horizon ; its light was clear and dis- 
tinct, rather than dazzling;— the serene beams of the 
autumnal sun, gilded hills, variegated woods, glittering 
spires, ruminating herds, bounding flocks,— all combined 
to enchant the eyes, expand the heart, and "chase all 
sorrow but despair." In the midst of such a scene, no 
lesser sorrow can prevent our sympathy with nature. 
A calmness, a benevolent disposition seizes us with sweet 
insinuating power; the very brute creation seem sensi- 
ble of these beauties ; there is a species of mild chearful- 
ness in the face of a lamb, which I have but indifferently 
expressed in a corner of my paper, and a demure, con- 
tented look in an ox, which, in the fear of expressing still 
worse, I leave unattempted. 



26 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Business calls me away. I must dispateli my letter. 
Yet what does it contain ?— No matter. You like any- 
thing better than news;— indeed, you never told me so, 
but I have an intuitive knowledge ujDon the subject, from 
the sympathy which i have constantly perceived in the 
taste of Julia and cher Jean. What is it to you or me— 

If here in the city we have nothing but riot, 
If the Spital-field Weavers can't be kept quiet; 
If tlie weather is fine, or the streets should be dirty, 
Or if Mr. Dick Wilson died aged of thirty? 

—But if I was to hearken to the versifying grumbling I 
feel within me, I should till my paper, and not have room 
left to entreat that you would plead my cause to Honora 
more eloquently than the enclosed letter has the power of 
doing. Apropos of verses, you desire me to recollect my 
random description of the engaging appearance of the 
charming Mrs. . Here it is at your service: 

Then rustling and bustling the lady comes down, 
With a flaming red face, and a broad yellow gown, 
And a hobbling out-of-breath gait, and a frown. 

This little French cousin of ours, Delarise, was my sister 
Mary's playfellow at Paris. His sprightliness engages 
my sisters extremely. Doubtless they tell much of him to 
you in their letters. 

How sorry I am to bid you adieu ! Oh, let me not be 
forgot by the friends most dear to you at Lichfield ! — 
Lichfield ! Ah, of what magic letters is that little word 
composed ! How graceful it looks when it is written I 
Let nobody talk to me of its original meaning, "the field 
of blood !" Oh, no such thing !— It is the field of joy ! 
"The beautiful city that lifts her fair head in the valley, 
and says, I am, and there is none beside me ! " \Vho says 



LETTERS TO MISS SEWARD. 27 

she is vain ? Julia will not say so, nor yet Honora, and 
least of all their devoted 

John Andre. 

In reference to the allusion in the last paragraph of 
this letter, Miss Seward very learnedly explained, that 
Lichfield does not signify "the field of blood," but "the 
field of dead bodies." The error is of little importance. 
Between the dates of this and the next epistle, he had 
visited Lichfield, and once again beheld the face of his 
lady-love. 

Mr. Andre to Miss Seward. 

Clapton, November 1, 1769. 
My ears still ring with the sounds of ' ' Oh, Jack ! Oh,. 
Jack ! How do the dear Lichfieldians ! What do they say f 
What are they about ! What did you do while you were 
with them !" "Have patience," said I, "good peoj^le!" 
—and began my story, which they devoured with as much 
joyful avidity as Adam did Gabriel's tidings of Heaven, 
My mother and sisters are all very well, and delighted 
with their little Frenchman, who is a very agreeable lad. 

Surely you applaud the fortitude with which I left you I 
Did I not come off with flying colors? It was a great 
effort ; for, alas ! this recreant heart did not second the 
smiling courage of the countenance; nor is it yet as it 
ought to be, from the hopes it may reasonably entertain 
of seeing you all again ere the winter 's dreary hours are 
past. Julia, my dear Julia, gild them with tidings of 
my beloved Honora ! Oh that you may be enabled to tell 
me that she regains her health, and her charming vi- 
vacity ! Your sympathizing heart partakes all the joys 
and pains of your friends. Never can I forget its 
kind offices, which were of such moment to my peace. 
Mine is formed for friendship, and I am blessed in being 



28 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

able to place so well the purest passion of an ingenuous 
mind. How am I honoured in Mr. and Mrs. Seward's 
attachment to me! Charming were the anticipations 
which beguiled the long tracts of hill, and dale, and plain, 
that divide London from Lichfield! With what delight 
my eager eyes drank their first view of the spires I What 
rapture did I not feel on entering your gates!— in flying 
up the hall-steps!— in rushing into the dining-room!— in 
meeting the gladdened eyes of dear Julia and her en- 
chanting friend ! That instant convinced me of the truth 
of Rousseau's observation, "that there are moments 
worth ages." Shall not these moments return! Ah, 
Julia! the cold hand of absence is heavy upon the heart 
of poor Cher Jean! —he is forced to hammer into it per- 
petually every consoling argument that the magic wand of 
Hope can conjure up; viz., that every moment of indus- 
trious absence advances his journey, you know whither. 
I may sometimes make excursions to Lichfield, and bask 
in the light of my Honora's eyes. Sustain me, Hope ! 
nothing on my part be wanting which shall induce thee 
to fulfill thy blossoming promises. 

The happy, social circle— Julia, Honora, Miss S -n, 

Miss B n, her brother. Miss S e, Mr. E n, &c. 

—are now, perhaps, enlivening your dressing-room, the 
dear blue region, as Honora calls it, with the sensible ob- 
servation, the tasteful criticism, or the elegant song; 
dreading the iron tongue of the nine o'clock bell, which 
disperses the beings whom friendship and kindred virtues 
had drawn together. My imagination attaches itself to 
all, even the inanimate objects which surround Honora 
and her Julia, that have beheld their graces and virtues 
expand and ripen;— my dear Honora's, from their infant 
bud. 

The sleepy Claptonian train are gone to bed, some- 
what wearied with their excursion to Enfield, whither they 



LETTERS TO MISS SEWARD. 29' 

have this day carried their favourite little Frenchman, 
—so great a favourite, the parting was quite tragical. 
I walked hither from town, as usual, to-night. No hour 
of the twenty-four is so precious to me as that devoted to 
this solitary walk. Oh, my friend, I am far from pos- 
sessing the patient frame of mind I so continually in- 
voke. Why is Lichfield an hundred and twenty miles 
from me? There is no moderation in the distance. Fifty 
or sixty miles had been a great deal too much ; but then,. 
there would have been less opposition from authority 
to my frequent visits. I conjure you, supply the want 
of these blessings by frequent letters. I must not, will 
not, ask them of Honora, since the use of the pen is for- 
bid to her declining health; I will content myself, as 
usual, with a postscript from her in your epistles. My 
sisters are charmed with the packet which arrived yester- 
day, and which they will answer soon. 

As yet I have said nothing of our journey. We met an 
entertaining Irish gentleman at Dunchurch, and being fel- 
low-sufferers in cold and hunger, joined interests, or- 
dered four horses, and stuffed three in a chaise. It is not 
to you I need apologize for talking in raptures of an 
higler,* whom we met on the road. His cart had passed 
us, and was at a considerable distance, when, looking 
back, he perceived that our chaise had stopped, and that 
the driver seemed mending something. He ran uj) to 
him, and, with a face full of honest anxiety, pity, good- 
nature, and, every sweet affection under heaven, asked 
him if we wanted anything; that he had plenty of nails, 
rojoes, &c., in his cart. That wretch of a postilion made 
no other reply than, "We want nothing, master." From 
the same impulse, the good Irishman, Mr. Till, and my- 
self thrust our heads instantly out of the chaise, and 
tried to recompense the honest creature for this surly re- 

* An old word for a provision peddler. 



30 LIFE OF MAJOE ANDRE. 

ply by every kind and grateful acknowledgment, and by 
forcing upon bim a little pecuniary tribute. My benevo- 
lence will be the warmer while I live, for the treasured 
remembrance of this higler's countenance. 

I know you will interest yourself in my destiny. I have 
now completely subdued my aversion to the profession of 
a merchant, and hope in time to acquire an inclination for 
it. Yet God forbid I should ever love what I am to 
make the object of my attention!— that vile trash, which 
I care not for, but only as it may be the future mjans of 
procuring the blessing of my soul. Thus all my mercan- 
tile calculations go to the tune of dear Honora. When 
an impertinent consciousness whispers in my ear, that I 
i.m not of the right stuff for a merchant, I draw my Hon- 
ora 's picture from my bosom, and the sight of that dear 
talisman so inspirits my industry, that no toil appears 
oppressive. 

The poetic task you set me is in a sad method : my head 
and heart are too full of other matters to be engrossed by 
a draggle-tail 'd wench of the Heliconian puddle. 

I am going to try my interest in parliament— How 
you stare!— it is to procure a frank. Be so good as to 
give the enclosed to Honora,—!^ will speak to /ler;- and 
do you say everything that is kind for me to every dis- 
tinguished friend of the dressing-room circle ; encourage 
them in their obliging desire of scribbling in your letters, 
but do not let them take Honora 's corner of the sheet. 

Adieu! May you all possess that cheerfulness denied 
to your Cher Jean. I fear it hurts my mother to see my 
musing moods ; but I can neither help nor overcome them. 
The near hopes of another excursion to Lichfield could 
alone disperse every gloomy vapor of my imagination. 

Again, and yet again. Adieu! J. Andre. 



CHAPTER II. 



Failure of Andre's Courtship. — Kichard Lovell Edgeworth. — 
Thomas Daj'. — Marriage and Death of Miss Snej'd. 




)TW1THSTANDING Ms ardor, and the pres- 
ence of so powerful a friend at court as he 
must have had in Miss Seward, Andre's suit 
did not prosper. There is a saying, that 
in all love affairs there are two parties— the one who 
loves and the one who is loved; and it does not seem to 
have been very long before Miss Sneyd came into the 
latter category. Separation, and consideration of the 
delay that must necessarily attend that acquirement of 
fortune upon which jDermission for Andre to renew his 
addresses depended, must doubtless have done much to 
cool her feelings, even had they originally been as warm 
as his own. This is at least the view taken by her friend, 
who at the same time commemorates the fidelity of the 
opposite party : 

"Now Prudence, in her cold and thrifty care, 
Frown'd on the maid, and bade the youth despair; 
For power parental sternly saw, and strove 
To tear the lily bands of plighted love; 
Nor strove in vain; — but, while the fair one's sighs 
Disperse like April-storms in sunny skies, 
The firmer lover, with unswerving truth, 
To his first passion consecrates his youth." 

The lady's feelings, in short, cooled down so sufficiently, 
that there soon came to be no reason why she should not 
receive the addresses of other suitors. In 1770, Mr. 
Richard Lovell Edgeworth was paying a Christmas visit 
to Lichfield, and thus mentions the imjji-ession he received 
of the state of affairs between Andre and Miss Sneyd- 



32 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

it being then about eigliteen months since their first meet- 
ing at Buxton, and but little over a year from the date of 
of the letters that closed the last chapter: — 

"Whilst I was upon this visit, Mr. Andre, afterwards 
Major Andre, who lost his life so unfortunately in Amer- 
ica, came to Lichfield.... The first time I saw Major 
Andre at the palace, I did not perceive from his manner 
or from that of the young lady, that any attachment sub- 
sisted between them. On the contrary, from the great 
attention which Miss Seward paid to him, and from the 
constant admiration which Mr. Andre bestowed upon her, 
I thought that, though there was a considerable dispro- 
portion in their ages, there might exist some courtship 
between them. Miss Seward, however, undeceived me. 
I never met Mr. Andre again; and from all that I then 
saw, or have since known, I believe that Miss Honora 
Sneyd was never much disappointed by the conclusion 
of this attachment. Mr. Andre appeared to me to be 
pleased and dazzled by the lady. She admired and esti- 
mated highly his talents; but he did not possess the 
reasoning mind which she required." 

Mr. Edgeworth had undoubtedly what many will reckon 
a good opportunity of ascertaining the lady's sentiments 
on this subject; for Honora Sneyd eventually became 
his wife. Whether, however, a woman always lays bare 
the secrets of her youthful breast to the man she marries, 
even though he possess "a reasoning mind," is another 
question. To be sure, having himself entered four times 
into the state of wedlock, Mr. Edgeworth had unusual 
means of coming to a conclusion upon this point; but it 
may well be doubted whether a more than common im- 
pression might not have been made on ]\Iiss Sneyd 's 
heart by the attractions of such a person as her disap- 
pointed lover. Even while acknowledging the expediency 



RICHARD LOVELL EDGEWORTH. 33 

of the course prescribed by the heads of both families, 
and yielding to their authority, she must have beeu sen- 
sible of the value of the qualities she was compelled to 
forego. From Mr. Edgeworth's own words it may be 
inferred, that at this period she had formed a high, not 
to say a romantic estimate of what was to be looked for 
in the man whom she should wed. Allien he left her in 
1771, with a view of going abroad, he says: "In various 
incidental conversations, I endeavored to convince her, 
that young women who had not large fortunes should not 
disdain to marry, even though the romantic notions of 
finding heroes, or prodigies of men, might not be entirely 
gratified. Honora listened, and assented." These re- 
marks of Mr. Edgeworth concerning Major Andre are 
entitled to considerable weight; not alone because of the 
well-known character for probity and discermnent of the 
writer and of his more distinguished daughter, by whom 
the Memoirs were completed and edited, but also from 
the fact that they were given to the world while yet a 
sister of Andre was living and in England : from whom, 
or rather from whose circle of friends, any misstatements 
on this head might have met a ready correction.* 

Richard Lovell Edgeworth, who ultimately became 
Miss Sneyd's successful wooer, is happily hit off, as he 
appeared in 1813, by Lord Byron: "I thought Edge- 
worth a fine old fellow, of a clarety, elderly, red com- 
plexion, but active, brisk, and endless. He was seventy, 
but did not look fifty— no, nor forty-eight even." "When 
he first met Honora, however, he was but of twenty-five 
or twenty-six years, though already a man of some note. 
Be had married on slender means, while his father yet 
lived, and had married unhappily: "My wife, prudent, 

* The clear handwriting of Maria Edgeworth across the title- 
page of a presentation copy of the Memoirs, gives additional value 
and authenticity to the vohime from which I quote. 

3 



34 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

domestic, and affectionate ; but she was not of a cheerful 
temper. She lamented about trifles; and the lamenting 
of a female with whom we live does not render liome 
delightful." He was, too, what may be called notional; 
and, charmed with the theories of Rousseau, must needs 
bring up his son after the manner of Emile, with bare 
feet and arms, and to a sturdy independence. While this 
connection subsisted, his visits to his friend Mr. Day 
brought him into constant intercourse with Miss Sneyd; 
"when," says he,— "for the first time in my life I saw a 
woman that equalled the picture of perfection which ex- 
isted in my imagination. I had long suffered from the 
want of that cheerfulness in a wife, without which mar- 
riage could not be agreeable to a man of such a temper as 
mine. I had borne this evil, I believe, with patience ; but 
my not being happy at home exposed me to the danger of 
being too ha])py elsewhere. The charms and superior 
character of Miss Honora Sneyd made an impression on 
my mind, such as I never felt before. ' ' Other gentlemen, 
whom he names, intimate at the palace, were unanimous 
in their approbation of this lady; all but Mr. Day. 

Thomas Day, the eccentric, benevolent, unpractical 
author of Sand ford and Merton, (once the delight of all 
the schoolboy world,) was now residing close to Lichfield. 
Notwithstanding his peculiar views respecting the sex, he 
could not refrain from frequently tempting his fate ; and 
what was more extraordinary, expected that witli a person 
neither formed by nature nor cultivated by art to please, 
he should win some woman, wiser than the rest of her sex, 
though not less fair, who should feel for him the most ro- 
mantic and everlasting attachment,— a paragon, who for 
him would forget the follies and vanities of her kind ; who 

>Should <io like our maidens clad in grey, 
And live in a cottage on love. 



THOMAS DAT. 35 

His appearance was not in his favor : he seldom combed 
his hair, and generally set aside, as beneath the dignity 
of man, the graces of fashionable life. He was tall, 
round-shouldered, and pitted with small-pox;— but he had 
£1,200 a year. Large white arms, long petticoats, and a 
robust frame, were, in his reckoning, indispensable quali- 
fications to the woman he could love. And yet, as might 
have been expected, we very soon find him addressing 
Miss Sneyd, whom he had at first undervalued for her ac- 
complishments, and who j^ossessed in the suitable degree 
not one of his requirements. He had previously endeav- 
ored to supply himself with a mate precisely to his liking, 
by taking two orphans, (from a Foundling Hospital, I 
believe) and rearing them in his own way, that he might 
choose one for his wife when they arrived at womanhood ; 
but the experiment was a failure. One of his wards, he 
soon ascertained, would not suit him; and the other, by 
a somewhat slower process, came to the conclusion that he 
would not suit her. Anticipating the ingenious device 
by which, in Canning's Double Arrangement, an English 
baron's love of liberty and of beef is equally expressed in 
the title of one of the characters, he had endowed this girl 
with a name designed to compliment at once the river 
Severn and the memory of Algernon Sidney. Sabrina 
Sidney in time learned that the efforts of her patron to 
give her self-command, by unexpectedly discharging pis- 
tols close to her ear, or by dropping melted sealing-wax 
upon her bare shoulders, were practices little calculated 
to ensure her domestic happiness ; and she sought repose 
in the arms of a less philosophical bridegroom. But 
early in 1771, and pending this discovery by the fair Sa- 
brina, Mr. Day resolved to woo and win Miss Sneyd. 
Her friends afforded him every facility in his suit, and he 
was continually at her side. But, notwithstanding the 
friendship that grew iip between them, the lady soon 



36 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDKE. 

arrived at a conclusion adverse to his desires ; and when, 
towards the end of the summer, he sent her by the liands 
of his friendly ambassador a voluminous proposal of 
marriage, that was probably oversj)read with terms and 
conditions, she returned him a hearty denial. She said 
that she would not "admit the umjualified control of a 
husband over all her actions; she did not feel that seclu- 
sion from society was indispensably neccessary to pre- 
serve female virtue, or to secure domestic hapj^iness. 
Upon terms of reasonable equality, she supposed that 
mutual confidence might best subsist; she said that, as 
Mr. Day had decidedly declared his determination to live 
in perfect seclusion from what is usually called the world, 
it was fit she should as decideiUy declare she would not 
change her i^resent mode of life, with which she had no 
reason to be dissatisfied, for any dark and untried system 
that could be proposed to her." This refusal sent poor 
Mr. Day to bed, to be bled for a fever ; from which, in a 
space, he came forth with philosophic equanimity, to seek 
the hand of Miss Elizabeth Sueyd as ineffectually as he 
had sought her sister's. 

To return to Honora ; it must not be supposed that ^Ir. 
Day was blind to Mr. Edgeworth's admiration of this 
lady, though no one else perceived it; and as his friend 
was already a married man, he urged his removal from a 
neighborhood so dangerous to his peace of mind. In 
fact, when Mr. Day's fate was decided, the partially re- 
pressed passion of his envoy returned with redoubled 
violence, and he found it necessary to retire to the Conti- 
nent. But the death of his wife and his father left him, 
in the spring of 1778, f i-ee to pursue his inclinations ; and 
he again came to Lichfield. Here he found Miss Sneyd, 
happily rid of a disorder that had threatened the destruc- 
tion of her sight, and more beautiful than ever; "and 



MR. EDGEWOKTH AND MISS SEWAED. 37 

though surrounded by lovers, still her own mistress." 
The wooing was speedy and successful, but apparently 
not without interruption. It is true that in 1771, he says 
Miss Seward declared her friend was free from any en- 
gagement or attachment incompatible with her i-eceiving 
a suitor's addresses; but the little slaps, which he now 
and then bestows upon that lady, seem to point her out 
as not altogether favoring the current of his love. She 
had been the first, he asserts, to perceive the impression 
Honora had made on him, several years before; and he 
gives her credit for a magnanimous prefei"ence of her 
friend's praises to her own. But after rather ungallantly 
referring to her rivalrj^ with Mrs. Darwin for the doctor's 
hand, he lets us perceive that at their first acquaintance 
Miss Seward, ignorant of his being already provided for, 
was not herself unwilling to make an impression upon his 
heart. And when he comes to the courtship of his second 
wife, he once or twice has occasion to notice her again. 
For whether because of the rapidity with which the fu- 
neral baked meats were succeeded by the marriage ban- 
quet, or because she still cherished a hope that Andre 
might yet be the happy man, she does not appear to have 
greatly encouraged the affair. Mr. Edgeworth, indeed, 
beside his intrinsic worth and a respectable position 
among the landed gentry, possessed advantages of for- 
tune which Andre could not lay claim to ; but Miss Sew- 
ard was enthusiastic in her disposition, and perhaps 
looked upon her friend in Warnford Court as capable of 
founding in his mercantile pursuits a house as illustrious 
and dignified as that of De la Pole, of the third Edward's 
reign, or of Greville, "the flower of woolstaplers, " in the 
days of James I. ; each of which sprung to nobility from 
successful commerce, and each of which has allied its 
own with the great names of literary history ; with Chau- 
cer, and with Sidney. Nor would his entrance into the 



38 I.IFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

army operate against this idea. lu the American war, 
the leader who united tlie higliest social and military rank 
—Lord Cornwallis— traced the lirst start to dignity of his 
house to a city merchant, and its advent to greatness to 
its services against domestic insurrection. And surely 
Andre— brave, wise, insinuating, indefatigable— must 
have heen expected to achieve a very great success in 
whatever career his ambition and his inclinations united 
upon. Let only opportunity be present to such a char- 
acter, and it will little matter whether he be born of cloth 
of gold or cloth of frieze. As Si)enser has it,— 

In Lrave pursuitt of honourable deed, 
There is I know not what great difiference 
Between tlie vulgar and the noble seed; 
Which imto things of valorous pretence 
Seemes to be borne by native influence. 

But if any efforts were made to preserve the lady's hand 
for Andre, they were in vain. Even on their first ac- 
quaintance, her new suitor believed himself to perceive 
that she was more at ease with himself than with most 
people; that she felt as though her character had never 
thitherto been fully appreciated; and he was not likely 
now to spare any pains to confirm this impression. His 
addresses were entirely successful; and on the 17th day 
of July, 1773, by special license, Richard Lovell Edge- 
worth and Honora Sneyd were married in the ladies' 
choir of Lichfield Cathedral, Mr. Seward performing the 
ceremony. "Miss Seward, notwithstanding some imag- 
inary cause of dissatisfaction which she felt about a 
bridesmaid," says Edgeworth, "was, I believe really glad 
to see Honora united to a man whom she had often said 
she thought peculiarly suited to her friend in taste and 
disposition." He also adds that the marriage "was with 
the consent of her father." Miss Seward had previously 
told the world that this consent was bestowed with reluc- 



DEATH OF MISS SNEYD. 39 

tance, and published her regrets that Andre had not been 
the groom.* 

Honora's subsequent life seems to have been happy. 
It was partly passed in Ireland, partly in England. Of 
an inquisitive disposition, she was pleased in bearing a 
share in her husband 's pursuit of knowledge, and by tlie 
clearness of her judgment was of service to hini in his 
intellectual avocations; "as her understanding had ar- 
rived at maturity before she had acquired any strong 
prejudices on historical subjects, she derived uncommon 
benefit from books." The charge of her own children 
and those of her predecessor occupied much of her 
thoughts, and in 1778, while teaching her first-born to 
read, she wrote, in conjunction with her husband, the 
First Part of Hayrij and Lucy, of which they had a few 
copies privately printed in large type for the use of their 
children. This was probably the earliest essay towards 
instilling, under the guise of amusement, a taste for 
science into the youthful mind. Their idea was then to 
■have completed the work, and it was for them that Day 
commenced his Sandford and Merton; but Mrs. Edge- 
worth's sickness put a close to her literary labors. Day 
expanded his proposed slight tale into a delightful book, 
and many long years after, Maria Edgeworth included 
Harry and Lucy in her Eaiii/ Lessons. In the mean- 
while, a prey to the insidious attacks of a deepseated con- 

* Miss Seward says that after Mr. Edgeworth had removed Hon- 
ora from "the Darwinian sphere," and Mr. Day had offered "his 
philosophical hand" to her sister, she sent him to France to learn 
a few airs and graces. He returned, however, so stilted and stiff 
that she was fain to confess that objectionable to her fancy as had 
been Thomas Day, blackguard, he was preferable to Thomas Day, 
gentleman. 

From the similarity of name, we may suppose this gentleman 
was related to the parties in the great Pluntingdonshire ease of 
Day V. Day, (1797,) a case in which E. Sneyd, Esq., of Keel, in 
Staffordshire, appears as a magistrate, receiving affidavits for the 
plaintiff. 



40 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRK. 

sunii)tion, ]\ri-s. Edgewortli was sinking into the grave. 
Her husband, whose passion burned unabated, narrates 
the closing scenes with much pathos:— "Tlie most be- 
loved as a wife, a sister, and a friend, of any person I 
have ever known. Each of her own family, unanimously, 

almost naturally, preferred her All her friends 

adored her, if treating her with uniform deference and 
veneration may be called adoring." It is ])leasant to 
think that the dying jiillow of such a woman was made 
as tranquil as man's love could compass. This appears 
from a letter of farewell written in her last hours to a 
near kinswoman:— "I have every blessing, and I am 
happy. The conversation of my beloved husband, when 
my breath will let me have it, is my greatest delight; he 
procures me every comfort, and, as he always said he 
thought he should, contrives for me every thing that can 
ease and assist my weakness. 

' Like a kind angel whispers peace, 
And smooths the bed of death.' " 

It was her dying request that her husband should marry 
her sister Elizabeth, who, like herself, had been sought 
in marriage by his friend Day. This desii'e Mr. Edge- 
worth fulfilled; and she also dying, he took in fourth 
nuptials the sister of the late Admiral Beaufort; and here 
we will leave him. It was in honor of his second wife, we 
are told, that he gave her name to the town of Sneydbor- 
ough, in North Carolina ; a province in which he possess- 
ed some landed interests. In 1780, the same year that 
witnessed Andre's death, died a second Honora Edge- 
worth, the only surviving daughter of Honora Sneyd. 
The little tale of Rivuletta, published in Early Lessons, 
and some drawings that are yet preserved, attest this 
child's resemblance in talents to her mother; — she re- 
sembled her as well in constitution, and in the source of 
her death. 



CHAPTER 111. 




Andre joins the Army. — Visits Germany. — Condition of the Ser- 
vice. — He comes to America. — State of American Affairs. 

'VERY historical writer, who has ti-eated ou 
the subject, has been under the impression 
that it was despair at the marriage to an- 
otlier man of the woman whom he loved which 
led Andre to renounce his previous occupation and to 
enter the army. Mr. Sparks says, "From that moment 
Andre became disgusted with his pursuits, and resolved 
to seek relief from his bitter associations, and dissipate 
the memory of his sorrows in the turmoil and dangers of 
war." Lord Mahon, after mentioning the marriage, re- 
marks, "Andre, on the other hand, to seek relief from his 
sorrows, joined the British army in Canada, with a Lieu- 
tenant's commission, at the outbreak of the war." The 
error was one into which these distinguished writers were 
reasonably led, but which may very properly be corrected 
by the "snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." It was 
probably through the statements of Miss Seward that the 
mistake originated; who asserts that Andre's constancy 
remained unshaken until he heard of Honora's wedding: 

Though four long years a night of absence prove. 
Yet Hope's fond star shone trembling on his love; 
Till hovering Eumour chas'd the pleasing dream, 
And veil'd with raven-wing the silver beam. 

The "hovering Rumour" she explains to have been 
"the tidings of Honora's marriage. Upon that event 
Mr. Andre quitted his profession as a merchant, and 
joined our army in America." Thus it would appear 



42 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

that the four years wliieli elapsed between the Bnxton 
conuection of 1769 and Edgeworth's marriage in 1773, 
were to Andre, in the main, "a night of absence;" and 
that even a correspondence did not long subsist may be 
inferred from the declaration that it was to a hovering 
rumor that he owed the intelligence of Honora being the 
bride of another. Therefore the half-suppressed indig- 
nation of Mr. Edgeworth at this version of the affair, 
may be well understood. He complains that the author 
of the Monody insinuates that Major Andre was, in plain 
English, jilted by the lady; and that, "in consequence of 
this disappointment, he went into the army, and quitted 
this country." Nor must it be forgotten that during these 
four years Miss Sneyd had been considered by her family 
as entirely disengaged, and free to receive the addresses 
of any eligible suitor; nor that, as in Mr. Day's ease, she 
actually had received such addresses. The fairest con- 
clusion which we can arrive at is, that Andre, abashed at 
the discouragement his suit had encountered, and dis- 
couraged by the difficulties to be overcome ere he could 
be permitted to return to the siege, had given way to the 
original bent of his inclinations, without at all relinquish- 
ing the attachment which he no longer could have reason 
to expect would be presently gratified. That he should 
abandon the hope of ultimate success need not at all be 
considered : 

None, without hope, e'er loved the brightest fair. 
Yet love will hope, where reason must despair. 

His aversion to trade and wishes for a military career 
have already been manifested, in his letters of 1769 ; and 
it may readily be conceived that the advantages of an 
employment for which by nature and by education he was 
especially well adapted, were not without their weight in 
his mind. Few men, as the result proved, were more 



HE VISITS GERMANY. 43'- 

capable thau he of winning a soldier's rewards; and no- 
man of the day could have worn them with more grace; 

Medals, rank, ribands, lace, embroidery, scarlet. 
Are things immortal to immortal man; 

and his age must have given them peculiar charms to 
Andre. The love of fame— "that last infirmity of noble 
minds"— was joined in him, as is shown by the whole 
tenor of his life, with that thirst for military glory which 
so long as human nature exists in its present constitution, 
will ever, according to Gibbon, be "the vice of the most 
exalted characters." So soon, therefore, as he approach- 
ed his twenty-first year, we find him entering the army. 
The son of an American officer, who was much with him 
in his last days, and in whose letters Andre's fate always 
found the language of sympathy and friendship, asserts 
that he tore himself from the reluctant arms of the circle 
of devoted relatives in which he had been educated, to 
wear the King's livery. This information may have been 
obtained by Colonel Hamilton from Andre's own lips , but 
it is only confirmatory of the deduction to be drawn from 
his letters, that there was a strong prejudice among his 
friends in favor of his remaining in the compting-house. 
Their wishes were, however, unavailing. In Januarj', 
1772, by an account said to have been furnished by his 
most intimate friends, he entered the army. "His first 
commission," says Mr. Edgeworth, with greater partic- 
ularity, "was dated March 4th, 1771." This was more 
than two years and four months antecedent to Miss 
Sneyd's marriage; but it was in the very time of those 
attentions of Mr. Day which all the Lichfield world, Mr. 
Edgeworth himself included, did not question were cer- 
tain to succeed. Perhaps, therefore, Miss Seward may 
have confounded the two events in her memory, and at- 
tributed an effect to a wrong cause. 



44 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

In the early part of 1772, Andre went over to Ger- 
many, and did not rotnvn to England nntil tlie close of 
1773. During this period lie visited most of tlie courts in 
that part of Europe. His Idnsman, Mr. John Andre, 
was estahlished in business as a musical composer and 
jiuhlisher at Offenbach; and the young officer's jiresence 
at her father's hoiise was long borne in mind by a daugh- 
ter, whose impression in later days was that her cousin's 
business in Germany was to conduct a corps of Hessians 
to America. This, in 1772, would have been rallier pre- 
mature; but it is very possible that his affairs there, 
away from his regiment for nearly two years, may have 
been in some manner connected with German subsidiaries, 
and under the direction of his own government. 

The regiment which Andre had joined was the Seventh 
Foot, or Koyal English Fusiliers: one of the oldest corps 
in the line, and dating its formation in the year 1685. 
The rank of ensign does not exist in a fusilier regiment, 
the grade being supplied by a second lieutenant; it was 
in this latter capacity that he seems to have tirst served. 
In April, 1773, the regiment had been embarked for Can- 
ada, where it iierformed garrison duty at Quebec for sev- 
eral months until it was sent to ^Lontreal, and variously 
posted in Lower Canada. Before leaving England to 
join it, however, it is asserted that Andre paid a final visit 
of farewell to Miss Seward and to the scenes of his former 
hai)iuness; which was attended by circumstances of a 
character so strange as to be worthy of repetition, if not 
of belief. Huring his stay, we are told. Miss Seward had 
made arrangements to take him to see and be introduced 
to her friends Cunningham and Xewton— both gentlemen 
of a poetical turn. On the night preceding the day ap- 
pointed for her appearance, Mr. Cunningham dreamed 
that he was alone in a great forest. Presently he per- 



CONDITION OF THE SERVICE. 45' 

ceived a horseman approaching at great speed ; but as he 
drew near to the spot where the dreamer imagined him- 
self to stand, three men suddenly sprung from their con- 
cealment among the bushes, seized on the rider, and bore 
him away. The captive's countenance was visible; its 
interesting appearance, and the singularity of the inci- 
dent, left an unpleasant feeling on Mr. Cunningham's 
mind as he awoke. But soon falling to sleep again, he 
was visited by a second vision even more troubling than 
the first. He found himself one of a vast multitude met 
near a great city : and while all were gazing, a man, whom 
he recognized as the same person that had just been cap- 
tured in the forest, was brought forth and hanged on a 
gibbet. These dreams were repeated the following morn- 
ing to Mr. Newton ; and when, a little after. Miss Seward 
made her appearance with Andre, Mr. Cunningham at 
once knew him to be the unhappy stranger whom he had 
seen stoj^ped and hanged. 

Whether this story may not belong to the class of pre- 
dictions which are not heard of until the event has occur- 
red, will not be inquired into here. A more important 
subject of contemplation is the condition and nature of 
the new life into which Andre had now embarked ; and as 
the constitution of the British army was at that time so 
anomalous, and as much of its ill-success in the American 
war was directly attril)utable to the peculiarities of its 
organization, it may be as well to set a state of the case 
before the reader. Not long prior to hostilities, Mr. 
(afterwards Lord) Erskine had vigorously exposed the 
glaring inefficiencies of the existing system. Fifty years 
later Scott, ex cathedra, even more thoroughly recapitu- 
lated its abuses. 

The purchasing of commissions was then at its height ; 
and to mend matters, great men in power could always- 



46 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

obtain a pair of colors at the War-Office for a favorite 
or dopeudent. Cliildron in tlie cradle thus were enrolled 
in the army lists; a schoolboy might be a field officer; 
and amiable youno" ladies are known to have drawn the 
pay and held the title of captains of dragoons. Of course 
they did no duty; but they were as fit for it as many who 
did. There was no military school in the kingdom; and 
no military knowledge was exacted of the officer who, 
ashamed of being suspected of possessing the first rudi- 
ments of his profession, huddled through the exercise by 
repeating the words of command from a sergeant, and 
hastened back to more congenial scenes of idleness or 
dissipation. These were the days when to be "a pretty 
fellow" was a manner of qualification for the service,— 
when the Amlets, and Plumes, and Brazens of the stage 
were fair ty])es of a class that "swore hard, drank deep, 
bilked tradesmen, and plucked pigeons." The few men 
of social rank that had any degree of professional skill 
were regarded as paragons; while any talent that might 
exist in a subaltern was, as it is too often now, rather a 
curse than a blessing to its owner, unless he had money 
or patronage to get on with. There seems to have been 
no uniform system of tactics; every commandant ma- 
nnouvred his regiment after his own preference, and thus, 
without previous concert, a brigade could not half the 
time execute any combined movement decently. The 
garb of the private was ludicrously imsuitable and 
absurd. More time was given to daubing the hair with 
tallow and flour than to the manual or drill ; and the se- 
verity with which a neglected queue was punished some- 
times goaded the very best corps into mutiny. In fact, 
the more crack a regiment became, the less it seems to me 
to have been fit for service; and there is verisimilitude 
if not truth, in the storv of the Hessian colonel who blew 



HE COMES TO AMERICA. 47 

his brains out because, in reply to his boast that his dra- 
goons dressed in a line were so equally matched that but 
one pigtail could be seen along the backs of all, the Duke 
of York pointed out the irregularity of their noses ! 

Such being the condition of the army, it is perhaps not 
too much to suppose that Andre, having purchased his 
commission, was determined to put himself on a footing 
so far superior to his fellows as would certainly facilitate 
his advancement; and that, therefore, he may have been 
on the Continent occupied in perfecting himself in various 
professional branches, for which England could have af- 
forded no facilities ; since it is well known that, at a still 
later period in the century, Wellington was sent abroad to 
acquire the rudiments of an officer's education. Be this 
as it may, he embarked in 1774 to join his regiment, then 
stationed in Canada, and arrived on his journey at Phila- 
delphia in September of that year. 

It may well be asked why Andre should have taken this 
route to Canada. The travel from the Delaware to the 
St. Lawrence was to the full as tedious as that from Eng- 
land to America; and the voyage between the two coun- 
tries could have as readily been performed to one river 
as the other. On Sunday, the 17th of the very month 
in which he reached Philadelphia, the ship Canadian ar- 
rived at Quebec, in sixty days from Cowes, bringing over 
Carleton and his family ; of which Viscount Pitt, the elder 
son of the great Earl of Chatham, was then a member. 
From our knowledge of Andre's character, it seems un- 
likely that without some cause he should have missed the 
opportunity which taking passage in this vessel would 
have afforded, of coming in direct contact, through 
several weeks, with his commander. Or he might have 
sailed in other vessels to Quebec, or even to Boston, and 



48 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

have thus saved a long aud fatiguing part of tlie course. 
Is it not probable that the selection of Philadelphia ^yas 
governed by the circumstance that the meeting of the first 
Continental Congress was called at that place, and that 
there was a good deal for an intelligent eye-witness to 
possess himself of between Pennsylvania and Canada? 
His own inclination may have suggested this idea; but if 
it really had an existence, it was in all likelihood carried 
into effect by direction of Carleton himself ;— a leader 
whom Heath, one of the chiefs of our Revolutionary 
army, characterizes as the greatest general the iBritish 
had in this country during the war, and whose retention 
in Canada he pronounced an especial piece of good 
fortune to America. This is the only manner in which 
Andre's presence in the South can be accounted for at a 
time when he should sei've his sovereign in the North. 
He was a prodigiously keen observer ; he doubtless noted 
all that he saw : and the state of things in the colonies was 
beyond question, of a nature to excite the anxious atten- 
tion of every considering man in authority. Domestic 
troubles were more than apprehended by the ministry, 
and the intervention of the military arm was i^rovided 
for. The temper of the people and the signs of the times 
in America would therefore be points to which so far- 
sighted a person as Carleton could not be indifferent. 

At this very moment, however, it is probable that our 
Revolution could have been turned aside by a change of 
British policy. The bulk of the patriotic party here were 
in opposition as Englishmen less than Americans. They 
applauded the words of Chatham and Rockingham, and 
regarded North as their political enemy, and the mis- 
leader of the king. They did not know that it was the king 
who guided his ministers, and who really is chiefly re- 



STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 49 

sponsible for the production of measures of questionable 
constitutionality, and as impolitic as impracticable.* 

The general tone of Whig feeling in Philadelphia had 
from the first been cautious but firm. The public sym- 
pathy was, it is true, warmly enlisted for the Bostonians; 
but the public mind was not as yet filed to that hostility 
to England which prevailed in Massachusetts. The first 
Continental Congress, however, was now met; and as it 
was in session at Philadelphia from 5th September to 
26th October, 1774, we may reasonably conclude that its 
doings were not disregarded by Andre. The secrecy in 
which the conduct of this body was wrapt, prevents us to- 
day from knowing much more than what appears on its 
published record; but by contemporaries, many things 
must have at least been surmised, which are lost to us for- 
ever. It sufficiently appears that the boasted unanimity 
of the assembly had no foundation in fact. At an early 
stage it seems to have been agreed, by way of lending 
weight to every conclusion, that the decision of a majority 
should be acquiesced in by all; and that no one should 
reveal anything that transpired without express per- 

* It is curious to note how entirely North's dispositions were 
misunderstood. It is now generally known that attachment to 
the king rather than desire of power kept him at the head of af- 
fairs, and committed him to the most obnoxious measures. In- 
heriting more of the capacity than the ambition of the Lord- 
Keeper, he would have preferred pleasure to fame; and when he 
was figured in America as devising new schemes of oppression, 
was, perhaps, frolicking with Thurlow and Rigby, or making houts 
rimes at the dinner-table. Of his skill in this line, an anecdote 
is preserved. Lord Sandwich so placed a lame Mr. Jlelligan that 
his name came to North's turn in tagging verses. The result was 
thus sung by the Prime Minister : — 

Oh, pity poor Mr. Melligan ! 
Who, walking along Pallmall, 
Hurt his foot when down he fell. 

And fears he won't get well again ! 
4 



50 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

mission of Congress. After tliis arrangement had l)een 
settled upon, we are told, by a well-informed Tory pam- 
phleteer of the day, that when some strong measures 
were introduced and carried, the effect on the minority 
was like "the springing of a mine, or the bursting of a 
bomb" in Carpenters' Hall. So far as can be now gath- 
ered, we may infer that to this congress came several 
delegates who had resolved in their secret hearts upon 
secession from Britain, and whose aim was to iiroduce 
war rather than reconciliation.* "Whether or not they 
represented the wishes of their own constituents, they 
certainly did not in this fulfill the desires of the colonies 
generally ; and it was necessary, by evasion or denial, to 
deceive the country at large with loyal professions, until 
neai'ly two years later, when a majority of Congress was 
ready to unite in the resolve of independence. At the 
close of the war, a Boston statesman thus referred to his 
own services in producing the result: — 

"Here, in my retreat, like another Catiline, the collar 
around my neck, in danger of the severest punishment, I 
laid down the plan of revolt; I endeavored to persuade 
my timid accomplices that a most glorious revolution 

* I had not. Sir, been in Congress a fortnight before I discov- 
ered that parties were forming, and that some members had come 
to- that assembly with views altogetlicr different from what Amer- 
ica professed to have, and what, bating a designing junto, she 
really had. Of these men, her independency upon Great Britain, 
at all events, was the most favourite subject. By these the pulse 
of the rest was felt on every favorable occasion, and often upon 
no occasion at all ; and by these men measures were concerted to 
produce what we all professed to deprecate ; nay, at the very time 
that we universally invoked the Majesty of Heaven to witness the 
purity of our hearts I had reason to believe that the hearts of 
many of us gave our invocation the lie. . . .1 cannot entertain the 
most favourable opinion of a man's veracity, who intended to do 
it, when he swore he did not, and when be represented a people 
who were actually pursuing measures to prevent the necessity of 
doing it. — Livingston to Laurens, Sedgwick's Livingston, 173. 



STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 51 

might be the result of our efforts, but I scarcely dared to 
hope it ; and what I have seen realized appears to me like 
a dream. You know by what obscure intrigues, by what 
unfaithfulness to the mother-country, a powerful party 
was formed ; how the minds of the people were irritated, 
before we could provoke the insurrection. ' ' 

Had it been avowed in the Congress of 1774, that the 
end of some of its leaders was a democratic and independ- 
ent government, it is probable that a vast majority of the 
American people would have repulsed them with indigna- 
tion. By dissimulation, however, they maintained the 
control until affairs were sufficiently ripe. For indeed 
the issue was very clear. America was at this moment 
disciplining her troops with the view of resisting the en- 
forcement of certain acts of Parliament. It was folly to 
suppose that this course would not end in open hostilities, 
unless the acts were repealed ; and hostilities once begun, 
subjugation or independence was the inevitable result. 
More far-sighted than their colleagues, they perceived 
that it was only necessary to keep both countries moving 
in their present course to render a collision certain. In- 
deed, despite the loyal protestations that America put 
forth during the ensuing twelvemonth, there can be little 
question that Thurlow was correct in asserting that at the 
end of 1774 open rebellion existed in the colonies. 

Nor could anything have more entirely aided this party 
in Congress than the course pursued in England by the 
leaders of the two great factions. On the one hand they 
were told by the most eminent men in the state, that their 
cause was just and their i-esistance laudable; — Chatham 
and Burke, Richmond and Granby applauded their 
course; Savile upheld it as "a justitiable rebellion." On 
the other, as though with full intent to stimulate into rage 
against England, every American who had not as yet 



52 LIFE OF MAJOR AN DUE. 

drawn the sword, tlio lialls of Pai-liainont eehood with the 
denials to our countrymeu of the most ordinary attributes 
of manhood. In the Lords, Sandwich pronounced his 
American fellow-subjects to be cowards, and only regret- 
ted that there was no probability of the king's troops 
encountering at once "two hundred thousand of such a 
rabble, armed with old rusty firelocks, pistols, staves, 
clubs, and broomsticks;" and thus exterminating rebel- 
lion at one blow. The speaker's brother might have 
given him a different idea of American prowess, since he 
luul ])eon sufficiently beaten, in the streets of Boston, by 
a smaller man from Roxbury, for some wild frolic. But 
he preferred the testimony of Sir Peter Warren as to the 
misconduct of the New England troops at Louisbourg in 
1745; testimony which, if true, convicts them of coward- 
ice not unlike that for which Lord George Germain, the 
incoming Secretary of State, had been cashiered by a 
court-martial. In the Commons, too, Colonel Grant,* who 
knew the Americans well, was certain they would not 
fight. "They possessed not a single military trait, and 
would never stand to meet the l-^nglish bayonet. He had 
been in America, and disliked their language and their 
way of life, and thought them altogether entirely 'out of 
humanity's reach.' " He forgot to add, however, that his 
own services among the Alleghauies had not been of a 
very triumphant character; and it is pleasant to believe 
that Cruger,t an American-born, reminded him of this 
fact in his reply, since we find him called to order as being 
personal. But these boastful and injurious words had at 
least one good effect: they provoked the Americans. 

* Colonel, afterwards General James Grant, who had shared in 
Braddock's defeat. He was afterwards prominent in the Xew 
Jersey campaign of 1777. 

t lienry Cruger (1739-1827). nephew of John, Mayor of Xew 
York, 175G-17()5. 



STATE OF AMEEICAN AFFAIRS. 53 

Even Washington was disturbed by such wliolesale sland- 
ers, and long after, when some British troops had been 
badly treated at Lexington, found occasion to remind his 
friends in London of Lord Sandwich's language. 

If such then was the sentiment in the senate, we need 
hardly ask how American valor was esteemed in the royal 
camp; but, in truth, there appears to have been such an 
infinite disdain of its opponents in this quarter, that, con- 
sidering all things, it is almost wonderful that the king's 
cause was not ruined outright at the very commencement 
of the war. As the Roman soldiery scornfully held every 
civilian to be a peasant, and as the Christians, improving 
on this, extended the word pagan to every one not of their 
faith,— so the English officer of that day seems to have 
deemed the colonist as the basest of all base mohairs* 
One gallant general thought a single regiment would be 
sufficient to march from Massachusetts to Georgia, and 
another (the natural brother of the king)t more moder- 
ately writes from Florida, that "three or four regiments 
would completely settle those scoundrels" in Carolina. 
Robertson thought it very dastardly in the Yankees to get 
behind a wall ; and all considered it mere idiocy to look 
for anything like a contested field. But there were plenty 
of men who recollected how the very same language had 
been held by the King's officers before Falkirk and Pres- 
ton, and what a "running commentary" ensued thereon. 

But the most unfortunate encouragement that America 
received from England, was the assurance that the latter 
country, whether by reason of the general aversion to the 

* To uU such they (the British officers) applied indiscriminately 
the name of Mohair — an epithet whicli still rankled in the mind of 
many a brave man after he had worn to tatters more than one 
uniform to which the services of these reprobates were so great a 
discredit and so small a ,i;ain. — Trevelyan (.4m. Bevolution, p. 113.) 

t Ho\^ e. 



54 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

war, whether because of its own conii)arative feebleness, 
would not hold out beyond a single campaign. A greater 
blunder was never made; and its effect was to persuade 
Congress and the people, that an easy victory was in store 
for us, and to thus prevent proper preparation for a long 
and severe conflict. This delusion governed in great 
measure the action of the first and second Congress ; and 
it is noteworthy that its chief supporters were the dele- 
gates who afterwards led the cabal against Washington. 
By giving forth a false estimate of the enemj^'s power, 
they very materially weakened our own; and by neglect- 
ing the means to make victory secure, they at least rend- 
ered it very doubtful. In fact, England was at that mo- 
ment in admirable condition for war. The lower classes 
were poor, while the middle and upjDer were unusually 
rich. Commercial prosperity and the success of the last 
part of the preceding war had brought into the realm an 
unwonted excess of the circulating coin of the world. It 
was estimated, that her people held more solid wealth than 
those of any two states in Europe. Thus, with plenty of 
poor to fill up the ranks, and plenty of treasure, the coun- 
try was in a good position. And as for public sentiment, 
there can be no doubt that the war was highly popular 
with the British nation until Europe joined against them, 
and success became hopeless. In America, at the out- 
break, the circulating cash was about $3,750,000 in specie, 
and $26,250,000 in paper; showing a proper revenue of 
about $7,500,000. The population may be estimated at 
2,448,000 souls, and the military capacity at from 20,000 
to 30,000 men. Of course, on these estimates, a large war 
could not be long carried on without foreign aid; and it 
is therefore again a hai^py thing, that during the earlier 
years of the struggle, and before such assistance was pro- 
cured, our people were persuaded that every campaign 
would be the last. Another fortunate circumstance was, 



STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 55 

that without pressing the people by taxes for its redemp- 
tion, and in fact, without redeeming it at all, Congress 
should have been in a position to issue millions and hun- 
dreds of millions of paper money, wherewith to carry on 
the war. 

Although secrecy was ordered, j'et it is not likely that 
it was strictly preserved in regard to all the proceedings 
of the first Congress; and in his chamber at the Indian 
Queen, or at the mess of the Royal Irish, or wherever he 
resorted, we may suppose that Andre picked up all the 
floating gossip of the day. Hardly had it met, when the 
whole country from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania was 
thrown into the utmost agitation by false tidings of the 
commencement of hostilities. Israel Putnam wrote to 
New York, that the troops and ships had began the 
slaughter of the people on the evening of the 2nd of Sep- 
tember, and called for aid from every direction. This 
letter, sent by express, reached New York on the 5th, and 
was instantly transmitted to Philadelphia, where the bells 
were rung mufifled through the day; and the people, 
Quakers and all. gave vent to feelings of rage and indig- 
nation. For three daj's the story was uncontradicted, 
and fifty thousand men, it was said, had prepared to 
march from various quarters to Boston. But there was 
not a jot or a tittle of truth in the tale; and Putnam had 
been imposed upon. The story appears to have been de- 
vised in New England by some over-anxious Whig, for 
the purpose of taking Congress by surprise at its first 
coming together, and plunging it into such steps of oppo- 
sition as might not easily be retraced. According to the 
rumor of the time, proposals for a declaration of inde- 
pendence were even now suggested in Carpenters' Hall; 
but there were so many delegates who threatened to se 
cede at once from the assembly, if such a measure was 



56 • LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

pressed, that it was withdrawn, and the association agreed 
on in its stead ; the object of whicli was to distress Eng- 
lish trade as much as possible, and thus compel a repeal 
of the obnoxious laws. Its effect, however, was rather 
to draw asunder the two countries, and to prepare a more 
general acceptance by America of the Declaration of In- 
dependence of 1776, than it could possibly have encoun- 
tered in 1774. Thus again it was happy for this country 
that the secret plans of the independence party did not 
now prevail. 

The aversion of some of the middle and southern col- 
onies to certain measures led to the formation, in Con- 
gress of 1774, of a party that endured through all the 
■war; and which, hj unity of action and concert of pur- 
pose, generally exercised a controlling influence in the 
state. In January, 1775, we fmd a zealous Tory declaring 
the acts of the Congress to have been unwelcome to both 
New York and Pennsylvania; "but Adams with his crew, 
and the haughty Sultans of the South, juggled the whole 
conclave of the delegates." Before all was over, how- 
ever, there was an almost open difficulty in the hall. 
Several leading men withdrew for several days; and it 
was only by compromising matters that the names of all 
the delegates were finally affixed to the association. 
These things were kept from the public as carefully as 
possible, and a general assertion of unanimity in all its 
doings put forth by Congress. But something must have 
leaked out at the time. 

On the 16th of September, the local gentry invited the 
fifty or sixty delegates to an entertainment at the State 
House, "where they were received by a very large com- 
pany, composed of the clergj", such genteel strangers as 
happened to be in town, and a number of respectable citi- 
zens," making in the whole about five hundred persons. 



STATE OF AHEEICAN AFFAIRS. 57 

If Andre were then in the city, there is every reason to 
suppose that he would be of the "genteel strangers" bid- 
den to such a scene ; and the proceedings of the occasion, 
so far as they may be pronounced upon from the toast- 
master's roll, must have possessed for him an interest 
beyond that of a common political dinner. The King, the 
Queen, the Boyal Family, were duly pledged; and then 
came the names of the party leaders on either side of the 
water: Chatham, Richmond, Conway, and Burke; Han- 
cock, Franklin, and Sawbridge. Of course, there was 
much said of the cause that had brought them together, 
and of their determination to preserve the union of the 
colonies and their constitutional freedom. Two toasts 
had interest for any military guest: "No unconstitu- 
tional standing armies," and "May British swords never 
be drawn in defence of tyranny;" but the general tone of 
the whole affair indicated clearly the public intent to ad- 
here to demands which England would not grant, and to 
resist the application of laws which England was appar- 
ently resolved to enforce. The inference was easy. If 
neither party receded, hostilities were imminent. And 
on the ensuing day a practical commentary was offered 
in the breaking open, by a mob, of the warehouse in which 
the collector of the customs had just stored a cargo of 
smuggled sugars which he had seized, and their restora- 
tion to the importer. All this was effected in comjoara- 
tive openness, nor was any punishment inflicted on the 
offenders. It is true that, on both sides of the Atlantic, 
smuggling was then regarded as a dangerous rather than 
an immoral practice ; and that in England, even ten years 
later, it was so hardily pursued that near Falmouth a 
battery was erected to cover the landing-place, the guns 
of which were ojoened on a King's ship standing in; but 
at the same time a much larger jiroportion of the magis- 
trates and people was there ready to obey and enforce the 



58 I.IFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

laws than in this country, where nearly all the merchants 
were engaged in illicit trade, and where the popular sen- 
timent regarded with abhorrence any attempt from the 
mother-country at its restraint. 

Of all these things we may be sure that Andre took 
good heed; for that he was now on a tour of observation 
through what was almost an enemy's country cannot be 
doubted, if we consider that, in addition to selecting a 
port so remote as Philadelphia from his ultimate desti- 
nation, he left that city to visit Gage's camp at Boston, 
instead of repairing at once to his regiment in Canada. 
This expedition led him through an important section of 
the country, and gave him ample opportunity of ascer- 
taining the complexion of popular feeling. There were 
then two public conveyances between Philadelphia and 
New York : a line of stages had been established in 1773, 
and the "Flying Machine" had been in operation several 
years longer. This last should rather have been called 
the Diving Machine, since it had managed to drown, 
among others, one of the earliest and best actresses that 
appeared in America, by oversetting in the ferry be- 
tween New York and Staten Island ; but by neither car- 
riage was the journey between the two cities performed 
in less than two days. Passing through Jersey, then, he 
might have perceived SJ^nptoms of the prevailing strong 
Whig feeling and turbulent spirit; and arriving at New 
York, may have procured some discouraging information 
from liis brother officers stationed there. The King's 
birthday in 1774 had been duly celebrated indeed by the 
23rd regiment, and what other military were at New 
York; but by the people generally was passed over al- 
most unnoticed. The active "VATLiigs, under the name of 
"Sons of Liberty," led an organized mob; and their 
conflicts with the soldiery were frequent and bitter. 
Under their auspices Liberty-poles were erected, obnox- 



STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS, 59' 

ious characters hung in effigj^ and instant revenge taken 
for the impressment of sailors by a ship-of-'^var. Relig- 
ion and Freedom were the watchwords of the hour, and 
the power and license of the Liberty Boys threatened to 
carry everything before them. The gentry in opposition, 
writes Gouverneur Morris, had started the mob, for their 
own purposes, in Grenville's time, and now— "the heads 

of the mobility grow dangerous to the gentry The 

mob begin to think and reason. Poor reptiles ! it is with 
them a vernal morning: they are struggling to cast off 
their winter's slough; they bask in the sunshine, and ere 
noon they will bite, depend upon it. The gentry begin to 
fear this." It must, nevertheless, be confessed that, 
however unlawful it may have been, the action of the 
Whigs of New York at this time, in preventing any work- 
men or stores being transmitted to Gage at Boston, was 
of real service to the American cause ; and there is noth- 
ing to wonder at in the turbulence of the people, consider- 
ing the encouragement they had received in such scenes 
ever since the period of the Stamp Act. 

From New York to Boston the traveller in those days 
usually passed upon horseback; either going through 
Connecticut, or by way of Long Island to New London, 
and so onwards. It matters little which route Andre- 
followed, so far as the temper of the people was con- 
cerned. From the moment he entered New England, he 
probably encountered none but ardent Whigs; and as 
greater unanimity and more democratic habits prevailed, 
so was the public mind more inflamed than in New York 
and Pennsylvania. Through the summer and fall of 
1774, the Connecticut farmers had not been sparing in 
their demonstrations. At Farmington the Boston Port 
Bill was burned by the hangman. At Windham and 
Norwich, a merchant from Boston named Green, suspect- 
ed of loyalty and known to be in pursuit of his debts, was 



60 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

mobbed and driven from tlie town. At Bolton, the 
ckM\c:^^nan was rudely dealt with who had proclaimed that 
the true reason for opposition to the iutroduetion of the 
East India Company's tea was, that since the tea was 
sold at Amsterdam for l.s'. and at London and Boston for 
2-5. 6d., it followed that Colonel Hancock gained l.s. lOd. 
on every pound of tea he smuggled in from Holland, 
while Colonel Erving gained but 6d. by every pound he 
sold from the Comjiany. And as this jirivate interest, 
he argued, had caused the destruction of the tea in Boston 
harbor, he proposed that the traders with Holland there 
should pay the damages ov;t of the profits from the five 
thousand boxes of Dutch teas they had sold within two 
years. In short, altliough there were a good many Tories 
in Connecticut, the rule was to tar and feather all who 
made themselves ])rominent, save only in the few towns 
where this party happened to be the strongest. But if 
any luckless Tory wight was caught beyond the reach of 
his friendly neighbors, he was forthwith seized and led 
from town to town, "as by law is provided in the case of 
strolling ideots, lunatics," &c. And so in Rhode Island: 
—at Providence, a public meeting requested the authori- 
ties to expel the friends of the Ministry ; in other places, 
the Whigs took the law into their own hands. Through 
all New England, the indisposition to English sway in 
any form or under any circumstances, was daily more 
plainly to be recognized; and by the time Andre reached 
Boston, he must have iiercoived that an ins^irrection was 
almost inevitable. 



CHAPTER IV. 




Political Condition of Massachusetts in 177-4.— State of Affairs- 

at Boston. 

^HE province of Massachusetts Bay, and more 
especially the town of Boston, contained at 
this moment perhaps the most excited and 
least loyal portion of the King's American 
subjects. The peculiar characteristics of this people 
had long led observers to believe, that the colony was 
impatient of any yoke; and certainly neither their 
traditions nor their democratic forms of government 
and of social life could have inspired them with any very 
fervent attachment to the home authority. The fall of 
Canada had removed the strong bond of fear, that once 
formed a part of the ties that united them with England ; 
and the Whig leaders already, to a greater extent than 
in any other part of America, looked forward to inde- 
pendence. Untrammelled in almost every practical 
sense, their commerce had long been carried on with 
scanty regard to the interests of Britain; and now that 
it was sought to enforce the old, or to bring new restrict- 
ive laws to bear on their trade, the people were thor- 
oughly inflamed. Bold, acquisitive, hardy, and astute, 
they revolted at the prospect of diminished gains; fond 
of power, they would not endure the loss of a tittle of 
authority they had once possessed. This disposition was 
well understood by its chief men,who foresaw the inevi- 
table result, and, like Moses on the mountain-side, looked 
forth to the promised land which, denied to their own 
feet, was yet to be trodden by their kindred. "Our fa- 
thers were a good people," wrote Otis to England; "we 



62 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

have been a free people; and if you will not let us remain 
so any longer, we will be a great people." Thus already 
pre])ared to resent the measures of government, they de- 
rived new zeal from the counsels of their spiritual 
guides. Great as is still the influence in secular matters 
of the clergy in New England, it was then enormous ; and 
in political controversies was exercised even more power- 
fully than to-day, and more openly. In every ordinary 
action of life, it was usual to join the world's business 
with religious duty; and where the force of conscience 
failed, the effect of long continued habit controlled the 
conduct of men.* And the clergy of New England, nat- 

* A conversation between James Otis and a member of the As- 
sembly from Boston, (apparently Thomas Gushing,) "in which the 
satire," says Mr. Tudor, "if it bears a little hard on the character 
of those times, is not wholly inapplicable to most others," will bet- 
ter exemplify this position. Otis observed, "They talk of sending 
me to the General Court." — "You will never succeed in the Gen- 
eral Court." — "Not succeed! and why not, pray?" — "Why, Mr. 
Otis, you have ten times the learning, and much greater abilities 
than I have, but you know nothing of human nature." — "Indeed! 
I wish you would give me some lessons." — "Be patient, and I will 
do so with pleasure. In the first place, what meeting do you go 
to?" — "Dr. Sewall's." — "Very well, you must stand up in sermon 
time, you must look devout and deeply attentive. Do you have 
family prayers?" — "iSTo." — "It were well if you did; what does 
your family consist of?" — "Why, only four or five commonly; but 
at this time I have one of Dr. Sewalfs saints, who is a nurse of my 
■wife." — "Ah! that is the very thing; you must talk religion with 
her in a serious manner; you must have family prayers at least once 
while she is in your house: that woman can do you more harm or 
good than any other person: she will spread your fame through- 
out the congregation. I can also tell you, by way of example, 
some of the steps I take: two or three weeks before an election 
comes on, I send to the cooper and get all my casks put in order; 
I say nothing about the number of hoops. I send to the mason 
and have some job done to the hearths or the chimneys; I have 
the carpenter to make some repairs in the roof or the wood-house; 
I often go down to the ship-yards about eleven o'clock, when they 
break off to take their drink, and enter into conversation with 
them. They all vote for me." — (Tudor's Otis, p. 91.) 



POLITICAL CONDITION OF MASSACHUSETTS IN 177-1-. 63 

iirally disturbed at the iuerease, under quasi-royal protec- 
tion, of prelatic forms of worsliip, and professionally 
vexed at the division of their power with a growing rival, 
were of one voice in their arguments. Thus, while we find 
the Churchman of New England almost universally to 
have been a Tory, the Congregationalists, and whosoever 
adhered to the Calvinistic forms of worship as practised in 
that country, were as universally Whigs. The former 
was self-confident and elate with the pride of a superior 
rank; the latter jealously indignant, and fearful of the 
establishment of an American episcopacy. This was a 
favorite bugbear. Among the lower classes the most 
dreadful apprehensions of bishops prevailed ; they were 
esteemed as little differing from demons ; and the child- 
ren wept as they listened to the tale that, among other 
perquisites of episcopacy, every tenth-born child should 
be ravished from its mother's side; and were fain 
to pray, that death might fall upon them so soon as a 
bishop's foot pressed New England soil. Intelligent and 
educated striplings thought it their bounden duty to God 
to be ready to slay the first prelate that should ari'ive. 
With these sentiments, it is no wonder that the Episco- 
palians were closely watched, and such of their chief men 
as were not openly Wliigs, put under restraint at an early 
stage in the troubles ; nor that hatred of the state of Eng- 
land was soon mingled with that of its church. No 
stronger evidence of the coincidence of political and 
religious feeling in this crisis can be found, than is pre- 
sented by the address of the Provincial Congress of Mas- 
sachusetts, wherein the people of New England are de- 
scribed as a church against which earth and hell had com- 
"bined. They were moved by one religion, one cause ; and 
the number of those who disagreed with them was too 
slight to militate against their proposition. And in truth, 
it seems but reasonable that the New England clergy 



64: LITE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

should have resisted the introduction of e})iscopal suprem- 
acy, if such a design existed anywhere but in the hopes or 
the fears of the colonists. The land belonged to them and 
to their flocks; and it would have been utterly unjust to 
have sujjjected it to the spiritual domination of a church 
abhorred by the people at large. Xo wonder, then, that 
their pulpits volleyed forth the most bitter impreca- 
tions against England, and that their prayers invoked 
the Almighty to shatter her ships against the rocks, and 
to drown her armies in the depths of the ocean. "Oh 
Lord," prayed a fervent divine, "if our enemies will fight 
us, let them have fighting enough ! If more soldiers are 
on their way hither, send them, oh Lord! to the bottom 
of the sea. ' ' Lnpelled thus by their original inclinations, 
stimulated by their clergj', and dexterously guided by as- 
tute leaders, the people presented a front that no royal 
governor could repel or confuse. It was then that what 
is now called a caucus system was first brought into prac- 
tical use, through the skill of Samuel Adams and some 
other Whig leaders. Before any public meeting of im- 
portance came off, the measures and men to be suppoi'ted 
were carefully but secretly decided upon by a council of 
three or four chiefs. The combination of their personal 
adherents at the meeting was generally sufficient to decide 
the question, and to give the tone • to its proceedings ; 
while any opposition was effectually quashed by a lack of 
union or preparation among their adversaries. 

The ajjpointment of General Gage to the government 
of Massachusetts would, under ordinary circumstances, 
have been an advantage to both crown and people. His 
polities, so far as we know, were not harsh ;— on the repeal 
of the Stamp Act, in 1769, his mansion at New York was 
brilliantly illuminated;— and he had chosen a wife in this 
country. In a military sense, he must have been familiar 



POLITICAL CONDITION OF MASSACHUSETTS IN 1774. 65 

with tlie land ; for so long before as 1755 he had led the 
44th regiment under Braddoek, and been wounded by the 
side of Washington. But the leaders of the Whigs now 
saw in his appointment a diabolical design, amounting to 
more than a studied insult to the province. The Port Bill 
had been received at Boston on the 10th of May, 1774. 
Gage arrived on the IStli; and on the same day a town- 
meeting displaj^ed a firm and unconciliatory temper. On 
the 17th, Gage was formally proclaimed ; but even at the 
banquet in Faneuil Hall, which formed part of the cere- 
monies of the day, the disposition of the people was dis- 
played by the hisses with which they greeted his toast to 
his predecessor, Mr. Hutchinson. Yet, though he was 
thus early warned of the popular tendency, and though he 
never concealed the condition of things from himself or 
■ his superiors, his letters to Lord Dartmouth through the 
summer and fall of 1774 were calm, and often hopeful. 
Things were always worse than they were when he wrote 
last; but ere he wrote again, they would i^robably be on 
the mend. Thus it came that little reliance was placed 
on his rei^orts; and the opposition openly declared that 
he had deceived the Ministers. "No event has turned 
out as he foretold, or gave reason to hope ; the next letter 
constantly contradicts the expectation raised by the 
former." But he soon saw that the civil government of 
the province was nearly at an end. The courts of justice 
were little more than a puppet-show; the judges were 
driven from the bench, and the juries refused to be sworn. 
Almost within cannon-shot of Boston, thousands of peo- 
ple surrounded the house of Oliver, the lieutenant-gover- 
nor, and by force compelled him to sign such political 
papers as they chose. Dauforth, Lee, and other members 
of the council, were similarly handled. The legislature 
too had, in May, almost ignored the existence of a roj^al 
governor, and, despite his proclamation of dissolution, 

5 



GG LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

liad i)rovided for a provinoial consross. The anciont form 
of civil govormnent was indeed dead, for the General 
Court never met more, and the power of the colony was 
to be divided between a royal governor and a rebel legis- 
lature till Massaehiisetts beoame an independent state. 
In October, 1774, twelve out of fourteen counties sent 
representatives to this provincial congress, at Salem; 
and it forthwith proceeded to act in every respect as the 
lawful government of the land; making provision for 
raising, arming, and controlling an army; and regulating 
the police of the province, and its intercourse with others. 
One of the first questions broached was that of negro 
slavery; and a letter directed to the chaplain was read, 
asking whether, when the masters were struggling for 
freedom, their slaves should not share their lot. But 
after debate, it was moved that "the matter now sub- 
side;" and it subsided accordingly. Their aim seems 
to have been to look exchisively to the main point, and to 
ignore all others. Thus, in December, 1774, when the 
Rajitist churches sought to avail themselves of the op- 
portunity of procuring religious liberty, they were grace- 
fully put aside by the Congi-ess. And though rumor al- 
leged that at the same time it refused to direct the imme- 
diate taking up of arms against the King's troops until 
the other colonies could be involved, yet it went on ac- 
cumulating guus and ammunition, and electing generals. 
In all that it did it had the support of the people. They 
who opposed its action were far more respectable in 
social rank than in nmnbers. Putnam and Willard, 
Saltonstall, Vassall, and Borland, Fitch, Stark, Buggies, 
and Babcock, in vain sought by their character and au- 
thority to stay the tide. These were, it is true, of the 
first position in the colony; but the day was gone 
when they were to command respect and obedience. 
"Wlien thoy fonued associations for mutual protection in 



STATE OF AFFAIRS AT BOSTON. 67 

"the free exercise of their right of liberty in eating, 
drinking, buying, selling, communing, and acting what, 
with whom, and as they pleased, consistent with God's 
law and the King's," they were soon broken up and 
driven into Boston, where Gage's troops protected them 
from violence. ' ' The Tories, ' ' wrote one from Boston in 
the summer of 1774, "lead a devil of a life ; in the coimtry 
the people will not grind their corn, and in town they re- 
fuse to purchase from and sell to them. ' ' An obnoxious 
character might look for any injury, from having his 
cattle taken or barns burned, up to jiersonal indignities. 
Willard going to recover a debt, was mobbed and sent to 
the Simsbury mines; Davis was tarred and feathered; 
Euggles was mobbed and driven from the county ; Paine 
and Chandler met with little better usage; and that 
"ancient gentleman," as Gage calls him, "Thomas Fos- 
ter, Esquire, was obliged to run into the woods and had 
like to have been lost." In short, the province was 
almost exclusively possessed by an organized party, who 
revenged themselves on the British Parliament in ill- 
treating every one that did not embi'ace Wliig principles. 
"There is something extremely absurd," said an Ameri- 
can at this date, who avows his intention of eschewing 
politics as though they were edged tools, "in some men's 
eternally declaiming on freedom of thought, and the un- 
alienable rights of p]nglishmen, when they will not permit 
an opponent to open his mouth on the subjects in dispute, 
without danger of being presented with a coat of tar and 
feathers." "The very cause for which the '\^niigs con- 
tended," says another who himself gallantly fought for 
American independence, "was essentially that of free- 
dom, and yet all the freedom it granted was, at the peril 
of tar and feathers, to think and act like themselves." 
With equal animosity the Whigs of the province regarded 
Gage. They burned the forage coming to Boston for his 



68 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

troops, aud sunk the boats which brought bricks for his 
use. Beyond the sound of his drum-beat, armed resist- 
ance was openly planned : magazines were established, ex- 
ercises in arms set on foot, aud weapons and ammunition 
of every sort, good or bad, eagerly sought after by the 
people. Gage's conclusion was that the object of the 
Whig leaders was to provolce a collision and precipitate 
a war; and he therefore did not fail to strengthen his 
hands for an occasion which, it is fair to believe, he 
would most gladly have averted. By the time Andre 
arrived at Boston there must have been three thousand 
troops gathered there, besides a regiment in garrison at 
Castle "William; and from several men-of-war in the har- 
bor four hundred marines were drawn early in December, 
led by Pitcairn, a descendant of the classical panegyrist 
of Dundee, and equally loyal as his ancestor, though to 
another line. His name is celebrated in America by his 
connection with the first blood shed in the Revolution, 
which his death at Bunker Hill perhaps expiated. If we 
are to credit M. de Chastellux, he was in the habit of 
traversing the country in disguise and bringing intelli- 
gence to Gage. 

The condition of the troops was not pleasant. They 
were constantly insulted or tampered with by the Ameri- 
cans, to whom their presence was aii iusutferable nuis- 
ance. Desertions were privately encouraged ; aud before 
the war began, scarce an organized American military 
company was without its drill-master in the person of an 
English fugitive. AVashington's men at Alexandria, and 
Greene's in Rhode Island, were thus taught their manual. 
This seduction of troops, and the allurements held out to 
the men to sell their equijmients, added fresh fuel to the 
growing hatred between both parties; and frequent af- 
frays occurred between the soldiers and the citizens. It 
was probably for some flagrant annoyance of this kind 



STATE OF AFFAIRS AT BOSTON. 69 

that Dyre, a man known as active in previous disturb- 
ances, was seized and sent in irons to England in 1774. 
He averred that Maddison, who seems to have questioned 
him pretty roughly as to the orders he might have re- 
ceived for the destruction of the tea from "King Han- 
cock and the d— d Sons of Liberty," promised him, that 
once arrived in England, "he should be hung like a dog;" 
but the more temperate of the Wliigs seem to have thought 
him an untruthful fellow ; and all the trouble he was put 
to there was to be examined by North, Dartmouth, and 
Sandwich, and so discharged. But sometimes the sol- 
diers settled the matter themselves; and having fairly 
caught in the act a Whig tempting them to sell their arms, 
tarred and feathered him thoroughly, and paraded him, 
to the air of Yankee Doodle, as "a specimen of Democra- 
cy." The example of the officers, too, was frequently 
anything but praiseworthy. Entertainments and dances 
were given on Saturday night and carried on into Sunday 
morning. Such things had never occurred in Boston 
before, and gave great offense. Nor was it unusual for a 
bevy of drunken officers to commit the grossest indecen- 
cies and outrages in the public streets ; and violent affrays, 
in which they generally came off second-best, were the 
natural consequence. Of course, all these occurrences 
were perfectly adapted to inflame the people's anger, and 
to stimulate fresh invectives against Gage. It is true 
that he gave a ready ear to every complaint against his 
subordinates, and seldom hesitated to punish ; but he was 
upbraided, nevertheless, as the modern Duke of Alva, as 
the tyrant of the town; and in the worst possible taste 
was told, that "the savages who chased him on the Ohio 
were gentle as lambs, compared with men bereaved of 
their liberties." The dangerous aspect of affairs soon 
led him to strengthen the old, and erect new works to pro- 
tect the only part of his province that remained in good 



70 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

earnest subject to his control ; and the sole eommnnica- 
tion between Boston and the main was guarded by 
substantial redoubts. This was a great grievance both 
to the Massachusetts and the Continental Congress, who 
saw in the fortifications a design to awe the country and 
enslave the town; but Gage very prudently refused to 
comply with a request for their reduction. "Unless 
themselves annoyed, ' ' he said, ' ' the works which you call 
a fortress will annoy nobody." In private, however, the 
Americans ridiculed these prejiarations. "The country 
lads," said Lovell, "were minded to fill the trenches with 
bundles of hay, and thus enter securely;" and Appleton 
protested that the old Louisbourg soldiers laughed at the 
entrenchments, and would regard them no moi-e than a 
beaver-dam.* Nevertheless the British occupied Bos- 
ton sixteen months longer, and no attempt was ever made 
to put these threats into execution. 

About the period of Andre's visit, towards the close of 
1774, the army at Boston was well handled. It was brig- 
aded under Percy, Pigot, and Jones, and a field-officer 
with a hundred and fifty men guarded the lines on the 
Neck. Their duties confined the officers to circumscribed 
bounds ; but the beautiful appearance of the surrounding 
country was not lost on them. "The entrance to the 
harbour," wx'ote Captain (afterwards Lord) Harris, 
"and the view of the town of Boston from it, is the most 

charming thing I ever saw My tent-door, al)Out 

twenty yards from a piece of water nearly a mile broad, 
with the country beyond most beautifully tumbled about 
in hills and valleys, rocks and woods, interspersed with 
straggling villages, with here and there a spire peeping 
over the trees, and the country of the most charming green 
that delighted eye ever gazed on. Pity these infatuated 

*See Heath. 



STATE OF AFFAIRS AT BOSTON. 71 

people cannot be content to enjoy such a country in 
peace ! ' '* But of these scenes beyond the lines the troops 
could have no nearer acquaintance. From the autumn of 
1774, it was not safe for any Ministerialist, military or 
civil, to be found out of Boston, where Gage remained al- 
most in a state of siege, yet with few of its discomforts. 
The Americans might cut off the supplies of beef and 
mutton, and occasionally reduce the officers to salted diet; 
but the temptation of gain led them to smuggle in fresh 
provisions. All sorts, the officers wrote, were plenty 
there, and cheaper than in London, though prices had 
risen with the demand. ' ' The saints ' ' were beginning to 
relish the money spent in Boston ; and the only regret to 
the spenders was the enriching of a set of people who, in 
their eyes, "with the most austere show of devotion, were 
void of all real religion and honesty, and were reckoned 
the most arrant cheats and hypocrites on the continent." 
—"In some respects," writes an officer, "our camp might 
as well have been pitched on Blackheath as on Boston 
Common; the women are very handsome, but like old 
mother Eve, very frail;" and in social refinements, the 
country was a hundred years behind England. In short, 
it is clear that the dislike of the provincials was amply 
returned by the British, chafing at the scoffs which they 
received, and the indignity of remaining cooped up in the 
presence of an antagonist whom they despised. For by 
many it was thought that the proceedings of Congress 
were designed merely to intimidate the merchants in Eng- 
land, and that America would never be so mad as to take 
up arms. "'\'\^ienever it comes to blows, he that can run 
fastest will think himself best off," said the officers at 
Boston. "Any two regiments here ought to be decimated 
if they did not beat, in the field, the whole force of the 
Massachusetts Province; for though they are numerous, 

* Lushington, Life of Lord Harris. 



72 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

they are but a mere mob, witliout order or discipline, and 
very awkward at handling their arms." That it would 
have to come to blows was now perceived. "I see some 
pretty resolves from Concord," wrote Admiral ^lon- 
tagu, "and the proceedings from Philadelphia all seem 
to go on well for a Civil AVar." And again— "I donbt 
not but that I shall hear Mr. Samuel Adams is hanged or 
shot before many months are at an end. I hope so at 
least."* Nor was the language in which they were 
spoken of by the friends of America in England very 
conciliator J^ "A mere army of observation," said 
Burke; "its only use was to shelter the magistrates of 
Ministerial creation;" while Chatham characterized them 
as "an impotent genej-al and a dishonoured army, trust- 
ing solely to the jjiekaxe and the spade for security 
against the just indignation of an injured and an insulted 
people. "—"They are an army of impotence," he repeat- 
ed, in reference to Gage's inactivity. "I do not mean to 
censure his inactivity; it is prudent and necessary inac- 
tion. But it is a miserable condition, where disgrace is 
prudence; and where it is necessarj" to be contemptible." 

* The British seem to have believed that Samuel Adams was 
their most powerful and unscrupulous foe in the province. In 
March, 1775, one of them wrote that when Dr. Warren had pro- 
nounced in the Old South meeting-house;, an oration in com- 
memoration of what was absurdly called a Ifassacre, Mr. 
Adams demanded that the meeting name an orator for the 
next anniversary of the "the bloody and horrid massacre 
perpetuated by Preston's soldiers." Several royal officers 
were present to discountenance the proceedings; and one 
"a very genteel, sensible officer, dressed in gold-lace regi- 
mentals, with blue lapels, moved with indignation at the 
insult offered the Army, since Captain Preston had been fairly 
tried and most honourably acquitted by a Boston Jury, ad- 
vanced to Hancock and Adams, and spoke his sentiments to thorn 
in plain English ; the latter told the officer he knew him, and would 
settle the matter with the General; the man of honour replied, 
'You and I must settle it first.' At this the demagogue turned pale 
and waived the discourse. — ii. Am. Arch, 4th ser. lOO. 



STATE OF AFFAIRS AT BOSTON. 1 6 

Even the political rlijanesters, with Lord John Towns- 
hend at their head, found occasion to celebrate the sources 
of ministerial embarrassment. Thus the latter addresses 
the pious Dartmouth: — 

The saints, alas! have waxen strong; 
In vain your fasts and godly song 

To quell the rebel rout! 
■\Althin his lines skulks valiant Gage, 
Like Yorick's starling in the cage 

He cries, "I can't get out!" 

Cramped up thus within the town-limits, and deprived 
by the countrAmien of every means of erecting needful 
buildings for their lodging or accommodation, the British 
were forced to use many liberties with the public edifices 
of the place; and we may be sure they were little loath 
to convert the South Church into a riding-school. As it 
had been employed by the Whigs for political lectures, it 
perhaps possessed the less sanctity in the eyes of Gage's 
followers ; but this association of religion and horses will 
remind the reader of Constantine's adorning the hippo- 
drome of his new capital with the famous and sacred ser- 
pentine pillar of brass, which had for ages commemorated 
at Delphi the glory of Marathon. Respect for the creeds 
of others rarely clogs the action of a power either in peace 
or in war. 

The Americans had ample intelligence of all Gage did. 
Their Provincial Congress even sent in a committee to 
examine the surgeon's stores with the commissary in 
Boston, that they might, it would seem, learn what to lay 
in for their own army. But there was one sort of mili- 
tary supply that, on either side, has since the war been 
less loudly acknowledged than it was then eagerly sought. 
Before the first gun was fired at Concord or Lexington, 
the Massachusetts Congress had induced the Stockbridge 



74 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Indians to take up the hatchet, and had regularly eurolled 
them in its army. The chief sachem, who went by the 
euphonious title of Jehoiakin Mothskin, exchanged sen- 
timents with Mr. Hancock, and informed the Congress 
that if they sent for him to fight, they must expect him to 
fight in his own Indian way, and not in the English fash- 
ion; all the orders he wished was to l-mow where the ene- 
my lay. At the same period, the Americans were less 
successful in treating with the Six Nations, the Penob- 
scots, Cauglmawagas, &c., with whom the English had no 
doubt a superior influence. Their address to the Mo- 
hawks is very curious. One of the motives urged to 
induce the savage "to whet his hatchet" is the probable 
increase of popery in Canada ! It is probable that most 
of these applications were occasioned by the wish to keep 
the frontiers safe, and to weaken England; but there 
were cases which such considerations could scarce have 
reached, and where the barbarian was employed simply 
as a warrior. "We need not be tender of calling on the 
savages," wrote Gage to Dartmouth, in June, 1775, "as 
the rebels have shown us the example by bringing as 
many Indians down against us here as they could collect." 
At a later day Washington was authorized to employ the 
Indians in the Continental service at his discretion, and 
to pay them $100 for every oflScer, and $30 for every pri- 
vate that they captured ; but the Massachusetts Congress 
was probably the first party in the war to bring them o i 
the field. Their employment afterwards by the British 
was made a famous theme of reproach, by Americans as 
well as Englishmen, against Suffolk who had ^^ndicated 
the step:— 

We've flayed the virgins, babes and wives. 
With tomahawks and scalping-knives, 
Which God and Xature gave us. 



STATE OF AFFAIRS AT BOSTON. 75' 

Witliont the means of connecting Andre directly with 
any incident in the occupation of Boston, a sketch of the 
military features of the place and time has now been 
given, with intent to present those points which would 
most probably have had a chief interest to him. Were 
there any reason to think that he remained with Gage so 
late as February 1 775, he might be suspected of a part in 
some such expedition as that of Brown and De Berniere, 
—two officers sent out in disguise by the general to make 
a reconnoissance of the country, through Suffolk and 
Worcester counties, where the ^Vhigs had their chief 
magazines ; perhaps with an eye to a descent. The spies 
were selected apparently as having recently arrived from 
Canada, and therefore as less apt to be known as royal 
officers. Thej' returned from a perilous and toilsome 
journey, well supplied with plans and sketches; and a 
very entertaining report of their expedition is preserved. 
We may imagine how Andre 's pencil and pen would have 
been busied, not only with the more legitimate duty of the 
occasion, but with such episodes as the militia review at 
Buckminster's tavern, which was followed by an address 
from the commander, "recommending patience, coolness, 
and bravery, (which indeed they much needed) particu- 
larly told them they would always conquer if they did not 
break, and recommended them to charge us coolly, and 
wait for our fire, and everything would succeed with 
them,— quotes Caesar and Pompey, Brigadiers Putnam 
and Ward, and all such great men ; put them in mind of 
Cape Breton, and all the battles they had gained for his 
Majesty in the last war, and observed that the regulars 
must have been ruined but for them. After so learned 
and spirited an harangue, he dismissed the parade, and 
the whole company came into the house and drank till nine 
o'clock, and then returned to their respective homes full 
of pot-valor." 



CHAPTER V. 




Condition of Canada in 1TT5. — Operations on Lake Champlain and 
the Sorel. — Fall of Fort St. John, and Capture of Andre. 

WOM Boston Andre might have passed either 
by land or by sea to Canada. The former 
I'oute would have been the most dangerous 
for a known adherent of the Crown; but 
since his arrival in America, there had probably been 
no necessity of Iris connection with the army being made 
public, and we may therefore conjecture that he encoun- 
tered little difficulty in getting out of the town, or on his 
road through the northern parts of New England. There 
was indeed no inconsiderable share of loyalty among the 
people along his path; but the Whig element decidedly 
predominated ; and perhaps the first overt act of rebellion 
on the continent was the capture of the fort at Ports- 
TQOuth, N. H., on December 13th, 1774, by a band of three 
or four hundred men, acting under instructions from the 
Boston AVhigs. They rushed in by beat of drum, disre- 
garding the four-pounders that were hurriedly and harm- 
lessly discharged against them; and overawing tlie 
garrison of six invalids, and binding the commander, they 
hauled down the royal colors, and bore off (as was their 
chief design) all the arms and ammunition of the post. 
Such an event as this ought to occupy an important place 
in the annals of our early violations of existing laws ; and 
taken in connection with all that had elsewhere transpired 
within the range of his observation since his arrival at 
Philadelphia, must have furnished Andre with matter for 
a very sufficient report upon the temper and designs of 
the Americans, if indeed such task had been assigned 



CONDITION OF CANADA IN 1775. 77 

liim. All this, however, is conjectural. We only know 
that he at last rejoined his regiment, the Seventh, in 
Canada. 

Sir Guy Carleton, the military and civil commander of 
the province of Quebec (which comprehended both Caua- 
das) had arrived there in September, 1774. He was a 
man of clear and extensive judgment, gi'eat administra- 
tive faculties, large experience, and winning manners; 
and though turned of fifty, an active and skilful soldier. 
With the character of the Canadians he was well ac- 
quainted, and the extraordinary official powers that he 
was vested with appear to have been used so sagaciously 
as to procure most important advantages for England, 
without alienating the hearts of the people. Among our 
own leaders there was an opinion that it was lucky for 
America that the ministry should have so far gone out of 
their way as by a private arrangement with him to have 
given to Howe and Burgoyne the command of the royal 
arms ; for the appointment, by the customs of the service, 
pertained to Sir Guy, and it is very certain that he would 
have made a better chief than either of his substitutes. 
He seems, too, to have been a supporter of the cabinet; 
yet his praises were sounded by their staunchest oppon- 
ents, and the Duke of Richmond passed a most glowing 
eulogium upon him at this period in the House of Lords. 
In his present position he had the advantage of some fa- 
miliarity with the patriots who were shortly to be brought 
against him. Montgomery and St. Clair had fought by 
his side when Montcalm fell, and as quartermaster of 
Wolfe's army he must have had some knowledge of 
Charles Lee and Putnam, of Stark, Schuyler, and 
Wooster. Such was the General under whose command 
Andre had first experience of actual war. 

The people of Canada at this date, if not so warmly at- 



78 LIFE OF ]\IAJOR ANDRE. 

taclied to the British governmeut as a few years sooner 
they had been to that of France, were at least not gener- 
ally discontented. The provision of the Quebec Act gave 
them little uneasiness. Unused to democratic forms of 
government, they did not share in the anger of the Whigs 
in England and the more southern colonies, at a law which 
gave them no part in the administration of public affairs, 
while the free toleration of the Catholic religion was nec- 
essarily grateful to a poi)ulation that was Catholic almost 
to a man. But our leaders in Massachusetts and else- 
where did not relish the idea of going into a war with 
England without striving to make allies rather than ene- 
mies of a country that lay in such dangerous contiguity to 
their own; and secret emissaries were already among the 
Canadians. In furtherance of this end, Congress sent 
forth to them an able address, which translated into 
French and distributed in manuscript, produced a good 
effect among that people; but it unfortunateh^ ius^Dired 
some of their principal men to examine the address to the 
people of England, made at the same time. This docu- 
ment, while it did not flatter the civil capabilities of the 
Canadians, inveighed with great warmth against the 
countenance Parliament had given to their creed; which 
was declared to be the disseminator of impiety, persecu- 
tion and murder over all the world. These passages 
provoked the violent resentment of the readers, who 
openly cursed "the perfidious, double-faced Congress," 
and hesitated no longer in renewing their allegiance to 
King George. This consequence should have been fore- 
seen. "I beg leave," wrote over an English friend to 
America, in January, 1775, "to caution you against any 
strictures on the Roman Catholic religion, as it will be 
much more advantageous for you to conciliate to you the 
Canadians, than to exasperate or rouse the people here; 
let us alone to do that." The few active sympathizers 



OPERATIONS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND THE SOREL. 79 

that Congress possessed in Canada were chiefly new- 
comers, whose zeal was more abundant than their discre- 
tion. On the day fixed for the Quebec Act to go into force, 
(May 1, 1775,) the King's bust on the parade at Montreal 
was found to have been blackened during the night, and 
adorned with a rosary of potatoes and a wooden cross, to 
which this label was added : Le Pape du Canada, ou le sot 
Anglais. This insult greatly exasperated the govern- 
ment as well as the people.* 

Meanwhile, matters with Gage were coming to a crisis, 
and Carleton left no stone unturned to put his own gov- 
ernment in condition to render every service in its power 
to the Crown. He seems indeed to have for a time medi- 
tated a march upon Boston, and two officers were sent out 
with private instructions to explore a military route. 
But the enterprise of the Americans, and the fortimes of 
war, soon gave him abundant occupation at home. 

The course which an army would, it was thouglit, be 
obliged to follow in passing between Canada and the other 
colonies, was well known. Lake Champlain, commencing 
near the upper waters of the Hudson, and stretching one 
hundred and twenty miles to the north, pours its waters 
through the Sorel into the St. Lawrence, between Mon- 
treal and Quebec. This lake was commanded by the fort- 
resses of Ticonderoga, erected near its communication 
with Lake George, and of Crown Point, situated farther 
to the north. At the head of navigation on the Sorel, 
Fort Chambly was erected, and twelve miles to the south- 
ward was the post of St. Johns. To garrison these places 
would, in time of war, demand large forces ; but in peace 
they were of course held by slender guards. In fact, the 

*David S. Franks, afterward Aide to Arnold, and present at his 
quarters when the traitor fled, was in Montreal at the time, and 
was arrested in connection with this incident, but released. 



80 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

only troops that Caileton now had in Lower Canada were 
the 7th and 2Gtli regiments, numbering 717 men, all told. 
The 8th regiment was in Upper Canada; and all were 
broken up into various and scattered detachments. 

As Ticouderoga was known to contain large military 
stores, of which we were very destitute, it was concerted 
to seize this post as soon as hostilities should commence. 
A' secret emissary of the Boston Committee appears to 
have so managed the affair that when, on the 10th of May, 
three weeks after the Lexington fight, lie accompanied the 
Americans in a night-surprise of the fortress, he was 
surjirised to find the gates closed. A wicket, however, 
stood conveniently open, and, giving the Indian war- 
whoop, the assailants poured in "with uncommon ran- 
cour," as Ethan Allen, their chief, expressed it. The 
forty-four men of the 26th, who garrisoned the place, 
were compelled to surrender with hardly a pretence at re- 
sistance, beyond the snapping of his firelock by the sentry ; 
and it would seem that the only injury received by any 
of the \'ictors was in consequence of a dispute between two 
of the leaders as to their conduct in the business, in the 
course of which Colonel Easton was "heartily kicked" by 
Colonel Arnold. 

The Americans on this occasion were not numerous, but 
they were active. Crown Point, Skenesborough, and St. 
Johns were visited without delay, the public stores seized 
or destroyed, and a few more soldiers taken prisoners. 
But the secret of the expedition had leaked out before the 
blow was struck, aud large reinforcements were actually 
on their way to Ticonderoga when it was captured. 
There is even reason to suppose that Andre was of the 
party. It consisted of one hundred and twenty men, with 
six pieces of cannon ; and was but twenty miles from St. 
Johns when that i^lace fell. To these appear to have been 



OPEEATIONS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND THE SOREL. 81 

joined forty more from Chambly. On the 19th May they 
fell upon Allen, who was then at St. Johns. He reti'eated 
with trifling loss, and the British resumed possession of 
the post. 

So long as he retained the command of the Sorel, Car- 
leton loiew that a serious invasion of Canada was unlikely. 
He therefore at once set about strengthening his hands in 
this quarter. Over five hundred regulars were soon 
gathered for the defence of Chambly and St. Johns, 
drawn chiefly from the 7th and 26th regiments, with a few 
from the naval and artillery services; and a number of 
Canadian levies, and all the ship-carpenters from Quebec, 
were joined with them. The summer was passed in 
building vessels wherewith to regain the control of Lake 
Champlain, and in fortifying St. Johns. This post was 
situated on a level space near the riverside, and, so long 
as it could hold out, was thought to be a perfect safeguard 
against any attempt on Chambly. The latter fort was 
therefore but weakly garrisoned, and appears to have 
been regarded by the English as a place of deposit for the 
bulk of their stores, and one to which they might safely 
resort should the other work become untenable. The 
provisions for St. Johns were even kept there, to be issued 
forth from time to time as wanted. By the end of Au- 
gust, two vessels were nearly ready to receive their masts, 
and two strong square forts erected. These were about 
a hundred yards apart, connected towards the water by a 
small breastwork. A ditch, fed from the river, and 
strong pickets, or chevaux-de-frise, encompassed them 
about; and tbey were well supplied with artillery. The 
hesitancy of Congress to set on foot an invasion of a 
neighboring province gave the English unusual facilities 
for carrying on their toil uninterruptedly. That body 
had indeed approved of the private enterprise which 

6 



82 1.1 i"i', ov iMA.ioi! \ni>i;k. 

wrostotl 'ricondorojjn rroin tho King's linnds; but is was 
not luilil .liiiic that il took stops to proviilo for a Toiiti- 
jioiital army ami to appoint its gvnorals. On the l!7tii, a 
low days lalor. Ma.jor-(lonoral Schuylor was diroctod to 
ropair to 'Pioondoroiia and, if oxpodioni, to invailo Cana- 
da; but it was not boforo tlio ."UHh that Artiolos of War for 
tho i>'ovornnionl o( its sohliory woro aotually adoptod. A 
nuniluM- o\' Ainorioans woiv alroady assoniblod at Tioon- 
tloroga wlion Scliuylor arrived tlioro on tho IStli July, and 
many uioro oamo in iluring tho sinnmor; so that towards 
its oloso upwards of "JOOO mon woro oxpootod to move to 
tho Sorol. But, as may lio oasily lioliovoil. this foroo was 
stroiisivr in nnmbors tlian olVootivonoss. Prawn from 
dilVoront ooKinios. unai'onstomod to sorvo to^otlior. im- 
patient of diseipline. tlioir ranks woro tilled with .ioalous- 
ies and disputes.* 'flie most undaunted eourajre eannot 
loni>' sup)>ly the hiok of subordination in a soldier; ami 
this delVot seems to liave been one si'reat eause of 
iSehuyler's triuible. He alleges tliat even from a partisan 
so valiant and important as Klhan Allen, he was obliged 
to exaet a solemn promise of proper demeanor before ho 
reluetantly gave him permission to attend (he army. Xor 
was desertion unknown: "We held a eourt-martial at 

* .\bout ton o'clock last night 1 arrived at tlio laiulinsi-placc. the 
north cm! of Lake Doorgo, a post occupiiHt by a cajnaiu and one 
hundred men. A sentinel, on being iufornuHl 1 was in the boat, 
quitted his post to go and awake the guard, consisting of tliree 
men, in wliicl\ he had no success. 1 walked up. and came to 
another, a sergeant's guard. Here the sentinel challenged, but 
sulTered me to come up to him. the whole guard, like the tirst. in 
the soundest sleep. With a penknife only I could have cut off 
both guai'ds. and then have set fire to the block-house, destroyed 
the stores, and starved the people l»ere. . . . But 1 hope to get 
the better of this inattention. Tlie ollicers and men are all good- 
looking people, and decent in their deportment, and 1 really liclieve 
will make good soldiers as soon as I can get the better of this 
»ti»ii7i(i/ci»i<Y of theirs. Uravery, 1 believe, tlu\v are far from want- 
ing, — Scluiyler to Washington, Jiifii IS, 1775. 



OPERATIONS ON 1>AKK C'llAMlM.MN AND Tlir, SOREL. 8'i 

evoiy other stage," wrote a Now York oriicei', "and gave 
several of the unruly ones Moses's Law, /. c. thirty-nine" 

(lashos). 

Apprehensive that the enemy's vessels would be ready 
for service before the full force with which he (l(>signod 
entering C-anada could be brought up, Schuyler a[)peared 
before St. Johns, with upwards of 1000 men, on the ()th of 
September. A landing was made within two miles of the 
place, and after some brisk skirmishing the troojis halted 
for the night. r>ut no Canadians rei)aired to their aid, 
as had been iioped for, which, with otlier i)rudential con- 
siderations, induced the American leaders to return on 
the 7th to the Isle-aux-Noix, not far distant. On the 
night of the 10th a detachment of 800 men, under Mont- 
gomery, again landed near the I'ort ; hut the noise which 
a ]iart made in marching through the tanglcti woods oc- 
casioned ;i panic anu)ng the rest, from which tliere was no 
recovering them ; and it was necessary, on the next day, 
to lead them back, after a very trilling skirmish. On the 
17th, however, they were once more embarked, and, 
Schuyler's illness preventing his accompanying them, 
the subsequent conduct of the siege devolved upon Mont- 
gomery. It is dillicult to estimate the strength of his 
forces, by reason of the numbers who were constantly sent 
back to Orown Point on the sick-list; but it was probably 
not far from l!()00 men. A party was stationed between 
Chanibly and St. -lohns to iuterrui)t the conuuunication; 
and though it was routed by an expedition from the fort, 
subsequent reinforcements arrived to the Americans, and 
on the 18th the liritish were in turn compelled to fly. The 
investment contiimed, but Itad weather and the feebleness 
of the beleaguering army retarded its progress iu)t a little. 
The fort was held by Major Preston, of the 26th, with up- 
wards of 500 men; among whom was a large part of the 



84 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

7th, witli Andre as their <iuartermaster. Major Stoijford 
of the 7th, with nearly lUO of that regiment, commanded 
at Chambly. In Montgomery's opinion it was necessai^ 
to erect certain works to insure the reduction of St. Johns ; 
but he had to do, as he soon acknowledged, with "troops 
who carried the spirit of freedom into the field, and 
thought for themselves." His ideas were not approved 
of by his inferiors, and he was compelled to lay the plan 
aside. This is but an instance of the crude organization 
of our army at this early day. Wooster, the third in rank 
in that region, held command of his Connecticut men as a 
colonial and not a Continental regiment, explaining that 
they were allies of the other Americans, but soldiers of 
Connecticut ; and Schuyler says that it was with no little 
difficulty that any useful service was at length obtained 
from them. With others of his officers, Montgomery's 
relations were extremely embarrassing. Many of them 
reported directly to their respective colonial authorities, 
and of course commented freely on all that occurred. The 
ill effects of such a system are evident ; but there was then 
no help for it. A New Hampshire officer informs the 
government that he alone has the execution of any success- 
ful measure ; the failures are due to Allen and others. 
Another officer, a captain, kept up a correspondence with 
Govei'nor Trumbull of Connecticut, in which, professing 
his own piety, he feels called to complain of the profanity 
of head-quarters; Montgomery, besides, is no general, 
though he may indeed possess courage. On tlie other 
hand, courage was the very quality whieli Montgomery 
seemed to have found lacking in some of his followers. 
He reports to Schuyler the cowardly conduct of an officer 
of the same name as this critical writer, and adds : "Were 
I furnished with power for that purpose, he should not 
live an hour after his trial, if the court condemn him. ' ' 
This spirit of insubordination, which induced Mont- 



SIEGE OF FORT ST. JOHN. 85 

gomeiy's army to prefer mutiny to the sacrifice to his 
positive commands of their own opinion as to the best 
way of besieging St. Johns, must be duly considered by 
every one who follows our military history at this period. 
It prevailed widely; and the purest patriotism, and the 
irksome use of flattery and persuasion, were too often 
needed to enable a general to retain his commission or to 
effect anything with his troops. Montgomery was wearied 
of his place, and anxious to get rid of it ; for matters soon 
came to such a pass that he was obliged to inform his 
chief subordinates (or rather insubordinates), that unless 
they would obey his orders he should at once abandon 
the leadership and leave them to their own devices. At 
the same period Schuyler, disgusted with the disorders 
that he could not subdue, was resolved no longer ' ' to coax, 
to wheedle, and even to lie, to carry on the service, ' ' and 
made up his mind to retire ; while Washington, for similar 
causes, declared that no earthly consideration should have 
wooed him to accept the chief command, had he foreseen 
what was before him. Yet there were many good soldiers 
in our ranks, and discipline only was required to render 
them all such. Meanwhile the siege went on slowly. 
Both parties suffered from want of sufficient necessaries 
of war. The garrison often fought knee-deep in mire, 
and their opponents, in addition to the injudicious nature 
of their works, labored under a deficiency of ammunition. 
At this juncture, an enterprise, suggested by some 
Canadians whom Major James Livingston had prevailed 
on to espouse the American cause, was crowned with 
success, and gave an unexpected turn to affairs. With 
300 of them, and in cooperation with a detachment from 
Montgomery's army, he attacked Fort Chambly. On the 
18th of October, Major Stopford of the 7th, with nearly 
100 of his men, surrendered this post, in which, as in a 
place of security, were lodged not only the stores for St. 



86 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Johns, but the women and children of the troops that de- 
fended it, and to which the beleaguered garrison ah'eady 
meditated a retreat. It may be noted that Livingston, 
whose conduct on this occasion so greatly promoted the 
event that reduced Andre to captivity, was the same officer 
who, a few years later, was indirectly the cause of his final 
and fatal arrest. "The capture of Chamblee occasioned 
many others," wrote Sir Henry Clinton, long after. 
Lamb also, the artillery officer at West Point on this last 
occasion, now pointed the guns against the walls within 
which Andre fought. The colors of the 7th were among 
the spoils taken at Chambly. They were sent to Phila- 
delphia ; and their keeping, after jDresentation to Congress, 
being probably confided to the President, they were, wrote 
John Adams to his wife, "hung up in Mrs. Hancock's 
chamber with great splendor and elegance."* These 
were the first standards captured in this war. 

The garrison of St. Johns was now put on half allow- 
ance, and the siege was more vigorously conducted. Mont- 
gomery 's men seem at length to have permitted his views 
to be carried out; and on the 29th of October, a battery 
was erected, under the fire of the fort, on an eminence to 
the north which entirely commanded it. On the next day 
ten guns and mortars were mounted, and preparations 

* The 7th lost its colors again before the war was ended. One of 
these, taken at Yorktown, is preserved, as the gift of Washington, 
at Alexandria, Ya. It is of heavy twilled silk, seventy-two inchea 
long by sixty-four wide, and presents the red and white crosses on 
a blue field. lu the centre, in silk embroidery, is the crown above 
a rose surrounded by a garter with the legend, Ho7ii soil qui mal y 
pense. The royal warrant of July 1, 1751, prescribes for the 7th: — 
"In the centre of their colours the Eose within the Garter, and the 
Crown over it : the AVhite Horse in the corners of the second Col- 
ouT." This colour now also bears by royal warrant the words: — 
Martinique, Talavera, Albuhera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Yittoria. 
Pyrenees, Orthes, Peninsula, Toulouse; — memorials of victories 
that may well obliterate the scenes of America. 



SIEGE OF FOET ST. JOHN. 87 

made for a general cannonade and assault. Tidings of af- 
fairs had however been conveyed to Carleton,who marched 
with a strong force of irregulars to relieve the place. His 
design was to attack the American intrenchments, while 
Preston at the same time should make a sally from within. 
But on the 30th of October, Sir Guy's party was inter- 
cepted and defeated, and he was compelled to retreat to 
Montreal. On the evening of November 1st, the new 
battery and the old four-gun work having kept up an in- 
cessant fire through the day, which was briskly returned 
from the forty-eight pieces of the fort, Montgomery sent 
a flag to Preston with one of the j^risoners taken at 
Carleton's defeat, and a request that, since relief was now 
hopeless, the post should be surrendered. To tliis Pi"es- 
ton replied, promising to offer proposals if relief should 
not a]3pear within four days. These terms were peremp- 
torily declined. Another prisoner of superior rank was 
sent to Preston, with a declaration from Montgomery, 
that the only means to insure the honors of war for the 
garrison and the safety of the officers' baggage, was to 
surrender at once. The Englishman yielded, and on the 
2nd, ax'ticles of capitulation were signed. The troops 
were allowed all the honors of war. "This was due,"" 
said Montgomery, ' ' to their fortitude and perseverance. ' " 
The officers were to retain their side-arms ; their firearms 
were to be kept in pledge ; the effects of the garrison were 
not to be withheld unless a prisoner should escape, in 
which case his propei'ty was to be given as plunder to the 
Americans ; and the prisoners were to pass into Connecti- 
cut, or such place of detention as Congress might provide. 
A quartermaster from each corps was also to go on parole 
to Montreal to settle its business and bring up its baggage. 
For the 7th, this duty fell upon Andre; seven of its officers 
had been taken at Chambly, and thirteen more were now 
captives with most of its privates. About sixty men only 



88 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

remained at liberty. Tliose had been retained by Carle- 
ton, and shaved in the defence of Quebec. At 9 A. M., on 
the 3rd Xoveml)er, 1775, the Americans entered St. 
Johns; and the English, to the number of six hundred, 
marching out and grounding their arms on a plain to the 
■westward, l)ecame prisoners of war. They were im- 
mediately embarked for Ticonderoga. 

The principal losses to either side during this siege seem 
to have been by desertions. Of our people, but nine were 
killed, and four or five wounded. "You know we take 
good care of ourselves," wrote Montgomery. Nor could 
the British casualties have been very nmnerous, since the 
defence was conducted with hardly an attempt at a sortie; 
though such measures might have been very advanta- 
geous to the besieged. But for the captui-e of Chaml)ly, 
and the final adoption of our general's plan of invest- 
ment, the fort would not have fallen at all, either by as- 
sault or starvation ; for assault was onlj^ practicable from 
that (juarter whence our men had at first shrunk, with an 
imiivession that they were to be betrayed and trepanned 
under the guns of the place. Besides, at the time of sur- 
render, very many of our troops were importunate to go 
home. Their enlistments were nearly out, and they were 
utterly unaccustomed to the severities of military life, or 
to prolonged absence from their families. Few indeed of 
the hundreds of sick that were sent to Ticonderoga ever 
returned to camp. "The greater part of them are so 
averse to going back, that they lu'etend sickness and 
skulk about; and some, even officers, go away without 
leave; nor can I get the better of them," wrote Schuyler 
to Congress. Had the siege endured much longer, prob- 
ably half of our army would have retired. As it was, 
Howe, at Boston, had little idea that all was not going on 
well on the Sorel, till the Americans furnished him with a 
newspaper account of our victories. On the l-J-th of No- 



SIEGE OF FORT ST. JOHN. 89 

vember, Wasliington published the grateful intelligence 
to the ai'my beleaguering Howe : and the countersign for 
the day was "Montgomery;" the parole, "St. Johns." 
A thousand copies of the account of the capture were 
printed by Congress for distribution in England. 



.1^ 
IS «!l 



^ f .li 



CHAPTER VI. 



Andre's Captivity. — Detained in Penns3'lvania. — Treatment of 
Prisoners. — Andre's Eelations vitli the Americans. — His Let- 
ters to Mr. Cope. — Exchange and Promotion. — Sir Charles Grey. 
— Sir Henry Clinton and the Operations on the Hudson. 




HE stipulation that their effects should not 
be withheld from the garrison of St. Johns 
does not seem to have been observed. It was 
but too customary on both sides, at this 
time, to disregard the rights of the vanquished and 
defenceless. The British, being better disciplined, did 
their spiriting rather more gently than our troops. The 
American baggage, protected by the capitulation of Fort 
Washington in November, 1776, was only partially plim- 
dered ; while about the same period Washington, by flog- 
ging and cashiering, was striving to make the Xyms and 
Bardolphs of our ranks refrain from stealing large mir- 
rors, women's raiment, and the like, from private houses, 
to ]n"event their falling into the enemy's hands. It was 
with difficulty that Andre got away with the baggage of 
the 7th from Montreal, whither our army had mai"ched. 
On the 13th November, 1775, Montgomery writes to 
Schuyler: — 

"I wish some method could be fallen upon of engaging 
gentlemen to serve; a point of honour and more knowl- 
edge of the world, to be found in that class of men, would 
greatly reform discipline, and render the troops much, 
more tractable. The officers of the 1st regiment of York- 
ers, and Artillery Company, were very near a mutiny the 
other day, because I would not stop the clothing of the 
garrison of St. Johns. I would not have sullied my own 



Andre's captivity. 91 

reputation, nor disgraced the Continental arms, by snch 
a breach of capitulation, for the universe ; there was no 
driving it into their noddles that the clothing was really 
the property of the soldier, that he had paid for it, and 
that every regiment, in this country especially, saved a 
year's clothing, to have decent clothes to wear on partic- 
ular occasions." 

But there were, first or last, other and less scrupulous 
hands to be met; which, as they, did not hesitate to spoil 
the goods of Congress, were probably not idle among 
those of a captive enemy, protected only by a guard of 
honor. "I have been taken prisoner by the Americans," 
wrote Andre to a friend at home, "and stript of every 
thing, except the picture of Honora, which I concealed in 
my mouth. Preserving that, I yet think myself fortun- 
ate."* At Ticonderoga the officers of the 7th and 26th 
applied to the Americans for blankets and shoes for their 
men, who were almost barefooted ; but there were none to 
spare. Schuyler, however, who had received the hospi- 
talities of the 26th when traveling in Ireland, advanced 
means to the officers of both regiments to supply these 
necessities. They were then sent, under a guard of a 

* Extract from Miss Seward's iri//.-— "Tlie mezzotinto engraving 
from ca picture of Eomney, which is thus inscribed on a tablet at 
top, Such was Honora Sneyd, I bequeath to her brother Edwa'-d 
Sneyd, Esq., if he survives me; if not, I bequeath it to his amiable 
daughter, Miss Emma Sneyd, entreating her to value and preserve 
it as the perfect though accidental resemblance of her aunt, and 
my ever dear friend, when she was surrounded by all her virgin 
glories — beauty and grace, sensibility and goodmss, superior intelli- 
gence, and unswerving truth. To my before-mentioned friend, Mrs. 
Mary Powys, in consideration of the true and imestinguishable 
love which she bore to the original, I bequeath the miniature pic- 
ture of the said Honora Sneyd, drawn at Buxton in the year 1776. 
by her gallant, faithful and unfortunate lover. Major Andre, in his 
18th year. That was his first attempt to delineate the human face, 
consequently it is an unfavorable and most imperfect resemblance 
of a most distinguished beauty." 



92 LIFE OP MAJOR ANDRE. 

hundred men, for Connecticut; where the Committee of 
Safety had provided for their distribution, aud for the 
assignment of the privates as laborers. This was a prac- 
tice with our government through the contest, as it was 
afterwards of Napoleon's; but it was warmly resented 
by the English. Gage, especially, complained that the 
prisoners of war should be made to work "like negro 
slaves to gain their daily subsistence, or reduced to the 
wretched alternative, to perish by famine or take up arms 
against their king and country." Up to Montgomery's 
arrival at the Sorel, indeed, there were no prisoners of 
war to speak of subject to the control of Congress; and 
no systematic preparations for their disposition had been 
made. It was now, however, ordered that the officers 
taken at St. Johns should continue their course to Con- 
necticut, while the privates should be brought to Penn- 
sylvania, where there were greater conveniences for sub- 
sisting so many men. But it was to guard against such a 
separation that the officers had obtained Schuyler's 
promise that they should not be parted from their sol- 
diers. On the one hand, it was important that they 
should see that their followers were not abused; on the 
other, that attempts to seduce them into the American 
service should be thwarted. Accordingly, when the in- 
structions of Congress reached the officer who was leading 
the prisoners to Connecticut by way of the Hudson River, 
he could only obey them so far as to bring on with him to 
Pennsylvania all of the 7th that were taken at St. Johns, 
officers as well as privates. As he came down the Hud- 
son, however, Andre was encountered by Knox,— after- 
wards one of the Board that pronounced on his fate, and 
now on his road to the north to select cannon for the siege 
of Boston, from the spoils of Charaplain. Chance com- 
pelled the two young men to pass the night in the same 
cottage, and even in the same bed. There were many 



ANDKB S CAPTIVITY. 93 

points of resemblance between them. Their ages were 
alike; they had each renounced the pursuits of trade for 
the profession of arms; each had made a study of his 
new occupation ; and neither was devoid of literary tastes 
and habits. Much of the night was consumed in pleasing 
conversation on topics that were rarely, perhaps, 
broached in such circumstances ; and the intelligence and 
refinement displayed by Andre in the discussion of sub- 
jects that were equally interesting to Knox, left an im- 
pression on the mind of the latter that was never oblit- 
erated. The respective condition of the bedfellows was 
not mutually communicated till the ensuing morning as 
they were about to part ; and when Knox a few years later 
was called on to join in the condemnation to death of the 
companion whose society was so pleasant to him on this 
occasion, the memory of their intercourse gave additional 
bitterness to his painful duty. Joshua Smith also asserts 
that he dined at this time with Andre, at the house of 
Colonel Hay of Haverstraw; though the features of the 
young officer were faded from his remembrance when he 
was called to guide him from our lines in 1780. 

Congress having ordered that its prisoners of war 
should be kept in the interior of Pennsylvania, Andre 
and his companions were now carried to Lancaster. The 
officers were paroled to keep within six miles of their ap- 
pointed residence, to approach no seaport, and to hold 
no correspondence on American affairs. The sale of bills 
on England, otherwise unlawful, was legalized to them; 
and the men were ordered to be fed as the Continental pri- 
vates, but to be paid and clad by their own government. 
The new and unsettled state of affairs made the condition 
of prisoners doubly painful. They had no money, and 
could not get any. They were compelled to lodge at 
taverns, for no private house would receive them; and 
their expenses could not be met by a proffered loan of 



94 LIFF, OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

two ]-)aper dollars a week from Congress. It was de- 
cided to soi>arate them from their men, and they in vain 
protested against this measure. Their complaint to Con- 
gress was that, while the officer was thus parted from his 
soldiers, they were enlisted by the Americans; and again, 
that the privates at Lancaster had received neither their 
clothes nor their pay, and that it was unjust in the ex- 
treme to thus deprive their leaders of the means of satis- 
fying them. The local Committee of Safety, at the head 
of which was Edward Shippen (a lady of whose family 
was at a later day the friend of Andre and the wife of 
Arnold), could not maintain order among the men but by 
a military guard. In January, 1776, they represent this 
to Congress. They also strongly paint the distress of 
their prisoners. The women and children are in a state 
of starvation. The men are half frozen by want of suf- 
ficient covering "against the rigor and inclemency of the 
season." This committee seems to have given what as- 
sistance it could to the captives, and, at the same time, to 
have declined separating officers and men. Accordingly, 
Congress handed over the disposition of the business to 
the State Committee, with instructions to imprison such 
officers as would not give a parole; and in March, 1776, 
orders for their removal from their men at Lancaster and 
Eeading were issued. Their money had not yot arrived, 
and they were compelled to leave their lodging-bills un- 
settled. The Lancaster Committee reported this to Con- 
gress, saying that the tavern keepers, with whom the Con- 
tinental authorities had lodged the officers, had finally 
refused to accommodate them longer, and that some of the 
inhabitants, out of courtesy, had therefore been induced 
to atf ord them rooms, with caudles, fuel, and breakfasts ; 
their own servants were in attendance, and a mess-dinner 
for them all was established. Among the bills thus ren- 
dered, we find jMichael Bartgis's claim for £7 6s., for a 



TEEATMEKT OF PRISONERS. 95 

chamber, fire, and lights, supplied to Lieutenants Des]3ard 
and Andre of the 7th. 

There is no great cause to suppose that these prisoners 
were either well treated or patient. An American officer 
of reputation, himself just released from long confine- 
ment at New York, remarks upon the ungenerous slights 
put upon the captives at Reading, by that class of Whigs 
whose valor was chiefly displayed in insulting those 
whom better men had made defenceless; and if their 
affronts were resented, the officer stood a good chance of 
being soundly cudgeled, and clapped into jail. More than 
one who had surrendered to Montgomery attempted to 
abscond.* 

The prisoners alleged, and with truth perhaps, that the 
fear of persecution deterred many of the inhabitants from 
showing them kindness. In Andre's case this apprehen- 
sion did not prevail. From some of the people of Lan- 
caster he received kind words and kind deeds ; and rela- 
tions of friendship were established that still exist in the 
memory of their descendants. The local authorities were 
less pleased with the behavior of the 26th than with that 
of the 7th; and there could have been no one in either 

* After alleging instances of our ill-treatment of prisoners, an 
English account continues: "When the garrison at St. Johns capit- 
•ulated, because they had no provisions and no place to retire to, 
the rebels were so much afraid of them, even when unanned, that 
Schuyler addressed the officers, telling them he was in their power, 
and depended on their honour. It would have been no wonder if 
such people had been well treated; yet so scandalously ill were 
they afterwards used, that some of "the young officers resolved 
rather to run the hazard of perishing in the woods in attempting 
to escape to Canada, than continue to submit to it." Royal Perm. 
Gaz. May 15, 1778. This story has probably this much truth in 
it: Schuyler may have so addressed GOO men whom he sent off 
under a guard of 100. That they were ill-treated afterwards was 
no fault of his, though he promised to hang an absconding prisoner 
if he could catch him. And after capturing them while yet fully 
armed, the Americans would hardly have feared unarmed men. 



96 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

regiment better qualified than himself to win the favor of 
his new neighbors. His disposition may be descril)ed, if 
it cannot be aecurately delineated. In him were most ju- 
diciously combined the love of action and the love of 
pleasure: the moving powers of every spirit that rises 
from the common level, and which, when properly direct- 
ed and controlled, are well rei^resented as the i)arents 
respectively of the useful and the agreeable in man. ' ' The 
character that unites and harmonizes both, ' ' says Gibbon, 
"would seem to constitute the most perfect idea of human 
nature." When business was concerned, Andre was 
zealous, active, and sagacious : and his leisure hours were 
given to elegant and refining relaxations. A taste for 
painting, poetry, music, and dramatic representations, 
comprehends as well a knowledge of the outward face of 
nature as of the thoughts and passions that stir mankind ; 
and cori-ectness of eye, ear, and hand, of judgment, fancy 
and observation, is fostered and strengthened by the arts 
upon which it feeds. In his present strait, not Gold- 
smith's flute was more useful to its master beside the 
"murmuring Loire" than the brush and pencil to Andre's 
familiar hand. A^liether as a mere amusement, or as a 
means of ingratiating himself with the people of Lancas- 
ter, he set about teaching some of their children to draw. 
The late Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton,' of scientific reputa- 
tion, was thus initiated into the art of sketching, and be- 
came no mean draughtsman. His family still preserves 
specimens of Andre's skill, some of which are of singular 
merit. His style was easy and free, and his favorite de- 
signs studies of the human figure, or from the- antique. 
In certain circles he thus became a welcome guest, and was 
wont to share in their parties of pleasure. Among the 
inhabitants who were distinguished by their courtesy to 
the captives was Mr. Caleb Cope, a Quaker gentleman of 
loyal proclivities. His son had a strong natural taste 



Andre's reiations with the Americans. 97 

for painting and soon became a favorite pupil of 
Andre's: so much so, that he constantly pressed the fa- 
ther to place the lad in his charge and suffer him to be 
brought up to that art. On one occasion he urged that he 
was anxious to go back to England, but could not do so 
without a reasonable excuse for quitting the army; that 
he liad now an offer to purchase his commission; and 
that with this boy to look after, a fair pretext for return- 
ing home would be afforded. But the father was inflex- 
ible, and in March, 1776, the master and pupil were sepa- 
rated, and the former sent to Carlisle. A correspond- 
ence was however kept up between Mr. Cope and himself. 

Andre to Caleb Cope. 
Sir 

You wou'd have heard from me ere this Time had I 
not wish'd to be able to give you some encouragement to 
send my young Friend John to Carlisle. My desire 
was to find a Lodging where I cou'd have him with me, 
and some quiet honest family of Friends or others where 
he might have boarded, as it wou'd not have been so 
proper for him to live with a Mess of Officers. I have 
been able to find neither and am myself still in a Tavern. 
The people here are no more willing to harbour us, than 
those of Lancaster were at our first coming there. If 
however you can resolve to let him come here, I believe 
Mr. Despard & I can make him up a bed in a Lodging we 
have in view, where there will be room enough. He will 
be the greatest part of the day with us or employ 'd in the 
few things I am able to instruct him in. In the mean 
while I may get better acquainted with the Town and 
provide for his board. With regard to Expence this is 
to be attended with none to you. A little assiduity & 
friendship is all I ask of my young friend in return for 



98 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

my good will to be of service to him and my wishes to i)ut 
him in a way of improving the Talents Nature hath given 
him. I shall give all my attention to his morals and as I 
believe him well dispos'd 1 trust he will acquire no bad 
habits here. 

Mr. Despard joins with me in compliments to yourself 
Mrs. Cope & Family 
I am sir 

Your most humble servant 
Carlisle the 3d April 1776.— 

John Andre 

The superscription of this letter is as follows: — 
To 
Mr. Caleb Cope 
Lancaster 

Andre and Despard obtained lodgings with a Mrs. 
Eamsey, in the stone house that now stands at the corner 
of Locust Alley and South Hanover Street,* in Carlisle; 
and for them and eight other officers a mess was estab- 
lished. Each had his servant from the regiment, dressed 
in the hunting-shirts and trousers that then were so com- 
monly worn, particularly by our troops. The ardent 

* The late Rev. Josepli A. ^lurray, D. D., of Carlisle, published 
in 1882 a pamphlet on "Andre and Despard in Carlisle;" by which 
it is clearly shown that Sargent and others who refer to Mrs. Eam- 
sey's house are wrong — the real location being the tavern which 
stood on lot 161, northeast corner of South Hanover street and 
Chapel alloy, and which was demolished many years ago. In 1776 
it was kept by Ephraim Steel, the grandfather of the late Jliss 
Harriet Foulk, of Carlisle, who, in 1882 told Dr. Murray that Mr. 
Steel had charge of Andre. Mrs. Ramsey, a staunch Whig, lived 
opposite in the frame house shown in the view. It was she who 
detected the Tories and caused their arrest. 

(See the revised edition of the pamphlet, with notes bv Prof. 
Chas. F. Himes, Carlisle, Pa., 1902.— Ed.) 



RUMORED ATTACK ON ANDRE. 99 

^liigs of the place feared lest their discourse should cor- 
rupt the weak-minded within their allotted bounds and 
were anxious to imprison them, but could find no pretext. 
At last Andre and his comrade were detected in conversa- 
tion with two Tories. The latter were sent to jail and 
letters in the French language being found on their 
persons, Andre and Despard were forbidden for the fu- 
ture to leave the town. As no one could be found compe- 
tent to translate the letters, their contents wei'e never 
known. The two officers had provided themselves with 
very handsome fowling-pieces and a brace of beautiful 
pointer dogs. The guns they forthwith broke to pieces, 

says tradition, affirming "that no rebel should ever 

burn jjowder in them,"— an exclamation that savors of 
Despard 's style.* On another occasion a person named 
Thompson,! who had once been an apprentice to Mr. Ram- 
sey, and was now a militia captain, marched his company 
from the northern pai't of the county to Carlisle, and 
drawing it up by night before the house, swore loudly 
that Andre and Despard should forthwith be put to death. 
The entreaties of Mrs. Ramsey at length prevailed on this 
hero to depart, shouting to her lodgers as he went that 
they were to thank his old mistress for their lives. On 
the 5th of August, the rumor spread through Lancaster 

* This was an Irish officer, who, in 1781, very bravely supported 
Nelson in Nicaragua, and was executed for treason in 1803. He 
was nnfi of the very few English officers that brought back from 

'■ir;! (fell' lenioir-iti': H'ldiiT wn - indpru an 

Mr, Sargent is mistaken in thinking the- Despard quartered "i+h Andre 
vas he vrho vas afterwards executed for treason, in England, in IdOS . 

It iras his brotlier, Edward Marcus DospiArd, who ht.d served in the 36th 
and .'^Oth regiments of the British Army, and v;as conspicuous in Nicaragua. 

This, from a letter to me from Sir C.V/.O'.Oman the historian, London 
Apl.18.1923. 

(lettsr from .,lr. V/illiaru Abbatt, Tur-ryto.vn, N.Y. April 2b, 1923 
to the Order Division, Library of Congress) 



100 LIFK OF MA,U)I{ AXDKE. 

that Captain Clark's company, of Cumberland County, 
on its M'ay through Carlisle to that town, liad wantonly 
attacked the royal officers there, and, firing through the 
windows, had wounded Andre. As Ciai'k's arrival was 
looked for that night, the Lancaster Committee ajipear to 
have feared a massacre would ensue of tiie in-ivates in 
their jail, similar to that perjjctrated in the same jilace, 
and by people from the same region, a number of years 
previously, upon the Christian Indians who had fled from 
the wrath of the "Paxtang Boys." They ordered the 
jail to be well sup]>lied with water before sunset, and pro- 
vided for calling out the local militia, if needs were; and 
the prisoners were assured that they should be protected, 
if possible. These, however, were not inclined to imitate 
their predecessors and die singing hymns and praying. 
They armed themselves with stout cord-sticks, and re- 
solved to die hard. On Clark's approach, the alarm van- 
ished: he denied the story altogether, and i)ut its i^ropa- 
gator in the guard-house. The man then had only to say 
that, at Carlisle, he had seen two persons firing their 
pieces down the street, and that he had heard, from the 
house where the officers' servants dwelt, that Andre was 
wounded. There was probably no truth in this last as- 
sertion; but there was much ill-will against the officers 
from the following cause:— Early in 1776, Foster, with 
some English and a number of savages, had encountered 
a body of Americans at the Cedars, on Lake Cham- 
plain, who surrendered to the number of 500. Foster 
alleged that his Indians, infuriated at the loss of their 
sachem, were for murdering the prisoners, and were only 
content to spare them on condition of marking each man's 
ear with a knife, and threatening to slay outright all who 
should ever return with this distinction. He then paroled 
them, to go home and be exchanged for a like number of 
the English taken at St. Johns. The American govern- 




THE RAMSEY HOUSE, CARLISLE 
(to the right). 

SITE OF ANDRE'S QUARTERS 

, (to the left). 



THE COPE HOUSE, 

L.^NCASTER. 



HIS LETTERS TO MR. COPE. IQl 

ment would not fulfill this convention; and the clipped 
men, arriving at their own abode, were often full of 
hatred to those for whom they were to have been ex- 
changed. This event occasioned great embarrassments 
in effecting the exchanges during the war ; for the enemy 
always insisted on the men of the Cedars being accounted 
for. But while some of the officers surrendered their 
paroles and were sent to prison,— "a dreadful place, that 
will be prejudicial to their health," says the Whig com- 
mittee,— and others, disregarding it, fled through the wil- 
derness to their friends, Andre is described as quietly 
confining himself to his chamber and passing his days in 
reading, with his feet resting on the wainscot of the win- 
dow and his dogs lying by his side. This was the wisest 
course ; for any infringement of the strict letter of their 
parole was now visited on the officers with imprisonment ; 
and new restrictions were imposed. They were sent to 
jail if they went out except in uniform ; they were not per- 
mitted to leave tbeir chamber after nightfall ; some were 
deprived, as they complained to Congress, of their ser- 
vants; others subjected to threats and insults. These 
matters are set down in the records of the times. Disa- 
greeable as they are to repeat, there can be no reason for 
their omission here, save one : if there were any cause to 
question their truth, they would gladly be stricken out. 

— Pudet h»c opprobria nobis 
Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli. 

Andre to Caleb Cope. 
Dear Sir 

I am much oblig'd to you for your kind Letter and to 
your Son for his drawings. He is greatly improv'd since 
I left Lancaster and I do not doubt but if he continues his 
application he will make a very great progress. I cannot 
regret that you did not send your son hither; we have 



102 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

been submitted to nlanns aiul joalousys which wou'd have 
rontltM-M his stay lioiv vory tlisajiivoablo to him and I 
wouM not williniily soo any |H>rson sntYor on our aci'ouut ; 
with regard howovor to >our ajuii'^heusions in oonse- 
ipieuoo of tJie osonpo of the Lebanon GentkMuen, they were 
groundless, as we have been on parole ever siuee our 
arrival at this plaee wliich 1 ean assure yon they were not. 
— T shouM more than once have written to you had oppor- 
tnnitys presented themselves, but the post and we seem 
to have fallen out, for we can never by that ehannel either 
reeeive or forward a line on the most inditferent subjects. 
Mr. Despard is very well and desires to be remember 'd to 
yourself and Family. 1 beg you wou'd give my most 
friendly compliments to your Family and particularly to 
your Sou my disciple to whom I hope the future posture 
of AtTairs will give me an opportunity of pointing ont 
the way to proticicncy in his favourite study, wliich may 
tend so nuich to his pleasure aud advantage. Let him 
go on copying whatever good models he can meet with, 
and never suffer himself to neglect the ]n"oportion aud 
never to think of tiuishing his work, or imitating the fine 
flowing Lines of his Copy, till every limb, feature, house 
tree or whatever he is drawing, is in its proper place. 
With a little practise this will be so natural to him. that 
his Eye will at tirst sight guide his pencil in the exact 
distribution of every part of the work.. I wish I may soon 
see you on our way to our own friends with which I hope 
by Exchange wc may be at length re-united.— 

1 am 
Dear Sir 

Your most obedient 

humble servant 

J. Andre 
Carlish' the 3d. Septr. 1776.— 



his letters to mr. cope. 103 

Andre to Caleb Cope. 

Your Letter by Mr. Barringlon is just come to hand 
I am sorry you sliou'd imagine my being absent from 
Lancaster, or our tioubles could make me forget my 
friends. Of tlie Several Letters you mention having 
written to me only one of late has reach'd Carlisle viz 
that by Mr. Slough. To one I received from you a week 
or two after leaving Lancaster I return 'd an Answer. I 
own the difficulties of our Correspondence had disgusted 
me from attempting to write. 

I once more commend myself to your good family & am 
sincerely 

Yrs &c* 

J. A. 

I hope your Sons indisposition will be of no conse- 
quence.*— 

This letter is addressed 

Mr. Cope 

Lancaster 

Andre to Caleb Cope. 
Dear Sib 

I have just time to acquaint you that I receiv'd your let- 
ter by Mrs. Calender with my j'oung friends Drawings, 
which persuade me he is much improv'd, and that he has 
not been idle. He must take j^articular care in forming 
the features in faces, and in copying hands exactly. He 
shou'd now and then coi)y things from the life and then 
compare the proportions with what prints he may have, 
or what rules he may have remember 'd. With respect 

* This letter was probably written early in September. On the 
24th Aujrust the Council at Philadelphia ordered that Mr. Bar- 
rington should be sent on parole from Lancaster jail to Cumber- 
land County. 



104 l.U'K OK MA.IOK ANUKK. 

to liis sliMilinn' with Imliaii Ink. tlio Muatoniicjil lisiinv is 
tolornbly woll vlouo, but lio wou'd liiul his work smoothor 
ixwd softor. woiv l\o to h\y tho sliados on inoiv iirndnally, 
not bhu'koninn' I ho darkost at oiuv but by washinsj; thoui 
ovor iv}u>atodly, and novor "till tlio j>apor is qnito dry. 
*riu> tiijmv is vory woll ilrawi\. 

l'ai>t". ran»|>lH>ll who is tho boaivr of this lottor will 
probably whoi\ at Lanoastor bo ablo to judgi^ what likoly- 
hood thoro is of an K\ol»angi» of Trisonors which wo aro 
told is to tako {^laoo innnodiatoly ; if this shon'd bo with- 
out foundation. 1 shouM bo vory stlad to soo your Son horo. 
Of this you inay s^vak with Capt". Oauipboll and if you 
shouM dotonnino upon it. K^t nio know it a fow days 
Ivfotv hand whon 1 shall tako oaro to sottlo niattors for 
his riHvptioi\. 
I am 

IVar Sir 

Your n\ost hun\blo Sor" : 

J. Anokk 
Carlhle tht^ Itth Oct. 1776.— 

My Wst ooniplinionts if you v^h^as'o to your fau\ily and 
partioularly to John. Mr. Pospard bosrs to bo ronuMU- 
bor'd to you.— 
SuiXM-soription: 

To 
Mr. Talob Oo^v 
Lauoastor 

AxoRK TO Om.kb Copk. 

Pk.\r Sir 

T oaunot miss tho opportunity 1 havo of writing to you 
by Mr. Slough to tako loavo of yoursolf and family and 
transmit to you my simviv wishes for your wolfaiv. Wo 
aiv on our road, ^as wo Ivliovo to Ih> oxohang'd^ and how- 



HIS LETTERS XO MJS. COPE. 105 

ever happy this prospect may make me; It doth not 
lender me less warm in the fate of those persons in this 
Country, i'or wliom I had eoneeiv'd a regard; I trust on 
your side you will f]o me the Justice to remember me with 
some good will, and that you will be persuaded I shall be 
happy if an Occasion shall offer of my giving your son 
some further hints in the Art for which he has so happy 
a turn. Desire him if you please to commit my name and 
my friendship for him to his Memory and assure him 
from me, that if he only brings diligence to his assistance, 
Nature has open'd him a path to fortune and reputation, 
and that he may hope in a few years to enjoy the fruits of 
his labor, perhajjs the face of affairs may so far change 
that he may once more be within my reach when it will he 
a very great pleasure to me to give him what assistance I 
can. My best compliments as well as Mr. JJespards to 
Mrs. Cope and the rest of your family I am truly 
Dear Sir 

Your most obedt. 

humb' Servant 

J. Andbe 
Reading the 2nd Dec. 1776. — * 

To ^rr. Caleb Cope 
Lancaster 

* These letters were communicated to me by Caleb Cope, Esq., 
of Philadelphia, grandHon of the gentleman to whom they were 
addressed. The memory of their writer was tenderly cherished by 
the young man they so constantly allude to, who in after-years 
could never refer to Andre's story without deep emotion. The 
correspondence did not cease here; letters came to Mr. Cope up 
to the time when Andre was about to proceed to meet Arnold at 
West Point; but unfortunately they appear to have been lost or 
destroyed. 

[Almost immediately after the date of the last letter to Mr. 
Cope, Andre was exchanged, and soon after we find him quar- 
tered in the Gardiner House, (Long Island) East Hampton, N. Y. 

The British had undisputed possession of Long Island at the 



]0() LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Towards the close of this year most of the prisoners 
iiijulo by citlior side in Canada were exolianj^cd, and 
Andre thus ol>tainod liis freedom by their means, through 
whom he had lost it. The skeleton of the 7th was trans- 
ferred from that province to New York; recruits and new 
clothing wore sent out from I'highiud; and in the end of 
Dct'cmber the regiment, including the men lately dis- 
charged from Pennsylvania, marched into town with 
tolerably full ranks. Andre did not, however, long re- 
main in it: on the 18th January, 1777, he received a cap- 
taincy in tlie l2Gth, which liad been so augmented that each 
coniiiaiiy consisted of 64 men, exclusive of commissioned 
ollicers. 

Sir William Howe, who now commanded in chief, had 
appeared on Long Island (where, indeed, it was supposed 
Amherst had advised his wintering in 1775-6, and thence 
commanding the neighboring colonies) in the preceding 
summer and had given Wasliington's army a severe de- 
feat.f The skill witli which our general avaiknl himself 

tiino, niul their lloet wiis constantly cruising up and down the 
Sound. 

Dr. Nathaniel Gardiner, of the First New Hampshire Conti- 
nentals, was a sou of Col. Ahraham Gardiner, the owner and 
otiujiant of tlie house. The Doctor ventured secretly to re- 
turn on a visit. Andre afterwards told his father that he had 
known of his presence, but as he had not actually met him, had 
forborne to have him arrested, as would have otherwise been his 
duty to do. On leaving town, Andre presented Col. Abraham with 
a wine-ghiss in exchange for one of his host's. The glass is still 
preserved by tlie family in the JIanor House ou Gardiner's Island. 

A strange destiny decreed that the two young men should meet 
in 1780, when Andre was a prisoner at Tajipan. Dr. Gardiner, by 
Washington's orders, was detailed to attend him professionally. 
He seems to liave left no written reminiseenees of his accomplished 
patient. — Ed.] 

t "We liave had what some call a battle, but if it deserves that 
name, it was the pleasantest I ever heard of, as we had not received 
more than a dozen shot from the enemy, when they ran away with 
the utmost precipitation. "Lushington's llnrris; i: 74. 



VICTORIES OF TRENTON AND PRINCETON. 1.07 

of his adversary's carelessness, however, wrested the 
fruits of victory from the English ; and 9000 men were 
safely borne away, whose retreat might have been pre- 
vented by the least exercise of forethought. New York 
was occupied; Fort Washington taken with its 2000 
Americans; and Washington compelled to retreat 
through Jersey into Pennsylvania, with Cornwallis thun- 
dering at his heels and pressing the pursuit with hot 
urgency. Had Howe (as he might easily have done) 
passed a force from Staten Island to New Brunswick, 
where much of our ammunition, light artillery, &c., had 
been sent on in advance, it could have destroyed them all, 
and in every human probability have intercepted the re- 
treat and crushed our army between itself and Cornwallis. 
This was the opinion, not only among our men, but in the 
royal lines ; and Clinton had vainly urged that the Rhode 
Island expedition should have been "landed at Amboy, to 
have cooperated with Lord Cornwallis, or embarked on 
board Lord Howe's fleet, landed in Delaware, and taken 
possession of Philadelphia."* 

Our affairs now began to look very desperate. We 
had been driven out of Canada. Washington, though in- 
vested by Congress with a dictatorship, saw his forces 
fluctuating between 2000 to 3000 men, disorganized, and 
one might have feared, almost ripe for dissolution. Num- 
bers in the seat of war were daily resuming fealty to the 
Crown, and the contagion spread even into the higher 
ranks of the army.f Congress had adjourned to Balti- 
more. The paper-money had depreciated. Lee, on 
whom many relied as on a second Charles of Sweden, was 
led away captive by Harcourt's dragoons while yet the 
pen was wet which had testified to Gates his contempt for 

* Paine's American Crisis, No. I. — Sir H. Clinton's MS. 
■ t'^^'arren; i. 353. 



ins I,rFK OK MA.IOU ANDRE. 

his cliioftain:— "(JHYre nous, a certain great man is iiKtst 
(laninalily (l(>fi(^iont. " At tliis crisis, liis strciiiTtli swdilt'ii 
liy militia to .'jOOO men, Wasliini;1on aimed a dcadiy blow 
at the cliaiii of posts nnwisi'ly ostablishod and carelessly 
maintained across Jersey. Kalil was cut to pieces; 
Cornwallis ont-generalled; and the victories of Trenton 
and Princeton, wliicli in a lOuropean camjiaign niiglit 
scarce figure as more tlian Inilliant alTairs, were as the 
lireatli of life to tlie fainting cause of American Tnde- 
l)endence. 

Howe uiiglit vainly console liimsclf with the reflection 
thai the neglect of his subordinates had invited surprise, 
and that an exasperated population withheld intelligence 
from their Hessian i>lunderers. These contingencies he 
shouKl have ]U'ovided against. The fault was his own, 
and it was "Washington's care to gloriously ]H-ofit hy it.* 

On his arrival at New York, Andre had prepared and 
presented to Howe a memoir upon the existing war. In it 
ho doubtless set forth the conclusions taught him by a 
year's active service in Canada, with the astute and ener- 
getic Carletou; by his temporary intercourse as a jirison- 
er with the generous Schuyler and Montgomery, and their 
followers in the north; hy his long confinement anmug 
the rural i)opulatiou of Pennsylvania; and by the impres- 

* "Tliere were who thought (and who 'were not silent) that a 
chain across Jersey might ho danirerous. General Howe wrote to 
General Clinton thus, a few days before the misfortune. — '1 have 
been prevailed upon to run a chain across Jersey; the links are 
ratlicr too far asunder.' .... GcnoralG rant [was] ]iriiu^ipally 
to lilanie; lu> sliould have visited his posts, given his orders, and 
seen tlicv liad been obeyed. ... I am clear it winild liave been 
lietter if Sir W. Howe had not taken a chain across Jersey; but 
General Grant is answerable for everything else. . . . The two 
very judicious and otlicerlike movements of Lord Cornwallis 
against Tippoo. in 1791 and 170"^, proves wiiat he himself thinks of 
his conduct in 177''. He luul driven Wasliington over the Assunip- 



VICTORIES OF TRENTON AND PRINCETON. 109" 

sions he had received, and the comparisons he was al)le to 
make of the relative positions of affairs in 1774, when 
Congress first met, and in 1777, when he rejoined the 
army. Since he came to America he liad kept up a jour- 
nal in which both ])en and pencil were tasked to record his 
adventures and wanderings among Americans, Cana- 
dians, and savages. Everything of interest that he saw 
—bird, beast, or flower— was preserved by his brusli in 
its native hue, and tlie volume exhibited not only views 
and plans of the regions he liad traversed, but of the 
manners and apparel of their inhabitants. Even through 
captivity he had saved this precious memorial from the 
hands of his captors ; and it may well be I)elieved to have 
been of material service to him now.f His memoir was 
well received;— Sir William was delighted with its ability 
and intelligence. He at once took the writer into favoi'; 
and it was perhaps in consequence that, on the 18th of 
January, 1777, he got his company in the 26th. But a 
staff appointment was his legitimate sphere, and there 
was for the time none such vacant. He therefore re- 

tion,* and the Delaware was impassable; tlie Assumption no where 
but at its bridge, that at Trenton. His Lordship held that at 
Allen's town ; lie held the string too. His Lordship, thinking that 
Wasliington would wait for him till the next day, deceived by his 
fires, &e., into this belief, neglects to patrole to Allen's town — - 
over which Washington's wliole army, and the last hope of 
America, escaped. 1 am sure no Hessian (,'or[)oral would liave hcen 
so imposed upon. . . . 'Tis a wonder Washington did not 

march to l^runswick Unless we could refrain from 

plundering, we had no business to take up winter-quarters in a 
district we wished to preserve loyal. The Hessians introduced it. 
Truth obliges me to assert, and 1 have proofs in the addresses and 
the letter, that Lord Percy and I effectually stopped it in Hhode 
Island. I could ])ro(luce a very curious proof." — (Jlintoti MS. 

*Assanpink-. 

t The aulhor (l<ics not give his authority for this statement, 
which so far as I know is not corroborated by other authorities. 
Could this journal be found its interest and value would be ver}' 
great. — [Eu.] 



11'^ LIFE OF MA.IOH AXDUK. 

lu.iiiu'd on line duty. His rcniiiu'iit was fortunately not 
ouo of tlioso tliat I'ryon led in April, 1777, to Danbiiry; 
otlierwise he might have met Ronedict Arnold face to 
faee, and shared in the (luestionai)le giories of what C'lin- 
toTi honestly confesses to have boon "a second Lexing- 
ton."* In the beginnins: of the smnmer he was named 
aide-de-cami) to ^[ajor-Cieneial (Jrey. 

Charles Grey was the fourtli son of Sir Henry Grey of 
Ilowick, to whom he eventually succeeded — his next 
brothiM- being killed in a duel l>y Lord Pomfret. He 
came of a knightly Northumbrian family, and of an 
ancient line. "The Hows of Grai," says Sir Philip 
Sidney, "is well known inferior to no Hows in England, 
in greater Continuance of Honour, and for number of 
givat Howses sprung from it to be matclied by none, but 
by the noble Hows of Xevel." At nineteen he was aide 
to Prince Ferdinand, and wounded at Minden. At the 
peace of 1763, when he retired on half-pay, he was colonel 
an.l aide to tlie king. Li our war, he had the local rank 
of .Major-General, and was distinguished for his dashing 
enterprise; and afterwards served with such credit in 
other quarters, that he was, in 1801, raised to the peerage 
as Baron Grey de Howick, and subsequently advanced 
to a viscountcy. So great was the opinion of his merit 
that, when the mutiny of the Nore threw all England into 
fear and confusion, his political opponent, Sheridan, ad- 
vised Uundas "to cut the buoys on the river, send Sir 
Charles Grey down to the coast, and set a price on Park- 
er's head." By these means only, he said, could the 
country be saved ; and he threatened to impeach ministers 
that very night, if they were not resorted to. Grey 

* Clinton MS. 



Howe's sally into new jersey. Ill 

brought home with him a higli estimate of Washington, 
though he thought him constitutionally nervous.* 

Personal friemlshii) had now led Sir Charles to Howe's 
camp. The other generals were all provided with aides. 
He brought none with him when he arrived at New York 
on the 3d of June, and willingly listened to his general's 
recommendation of "a young man of great abilities, whom 
for some time he liad wished to provide for." Andre 
was appointed his aide-de-camp, and thenceforth could 
have been but little with his regiment, though his rank in 
it was still retained. He doubtless accompanied Grey 
in the movement of force that Howe made into Jersey on 
the 14tli of June, but the column to which he was attached 
did not come into action. This was at a juncture when 
our army, inferior in strength, had nothing to hojie from 
being forced into a general engagement; which, for that 
very reason, was desired by the enemy. We were en- 
camped in a very defensible, but by no means impreg- 

* General Grey was fatlier of the celebrated Reform Peer, whose 
name was once in every mouth, and whom Cobbett so injured by 
the publication of the Grey List, which showed that, when prime 
minister, he had saddled his kindred on the nation, to the rate of 
£170,000 per annum. It was also said that, so far from imitating 
"the fair platonist,"' Lady Jane, his way of life mifiht have been 
classed by her tutor, old Roger Ascham, with that which the young 
nobility of the day brought home from Venice. An anecdote of 
Gen. Grey, whether true or false, was told among the Tories in the 
war. An officer going home with despatches was thus instructed 
by him: "You will first go to Lord G. Germain; he will ask you 
such and such questions; you will answer them so and so. You 
will then be sent to Lord North, who will ask you these questions; 
you will thus answer ihem. You will then be sent to the King, 
who will also ask you, &c. ; you are also to give him these answers. 
You will then be examined by the Queen. She is a sensible woman. 
Y^ou must answer with caution ; but of all things be careful that 
you say nothing that will condemn the conduct of Gen. Howe." 
— Davis's Burr; ii. 33. 



112 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDKE. 

liable ground.* It was the British policy to seduce us 
from those lines; and by a simulated retreat, they par- 
tially succeeded. "This feint of Sir "William Howe," 
confesses Clinton, "was well imagined and well executed, 
but Washington began to grow wary." The Americans 
fell back with slight damage to their posts in the hills, 
securing the passes which Cornwallis had sought to oc- 
cupy ; and there was nothing left for the foe but to return 
to the place whence he came, to boldly essay the hostile 
camp, or to leave our people in their security, and, by in- 
terce]iting their sui)plies, or even crossing the Delaware, 
finally force Washington to march out. This last seemed 
to numy of the English the most feasible manoeuvre. "I 
had planned this very move in 1779," wrote Clinton, some 
years later, "under promise of early reinforcements, and 
had taken every previous step to it; Imt reinforcements 
not arriving till September, I was obliged to relinquish 
it."t On this occasion, however, Howe thought it wisest 
to go quietly back towards New York; whence he soon 
sailed with the bulk of his troops. Clinton was left to 
hold the city with what remained; "making in all 7,000; 
great proportion of which were raw provincials."! 

From Sir Henry's own manuscript notes, it may be as 
well to insert here some further narrative of the doings 
of the royal arms on the Hudson. It will be recollected 
that, while he was "forbid to do anything offensive that 
could endanger New York," it was impossible for Clinton 
to remain indifferent to the fate of Burgoyne. In his 
own words : — 

"When Sir H. Clinton had received a reinforcement 

* "In this position Washington had the Rariton in front so as 
[to be] strongly posted, but not entirely secure: for his communi- 
cation niiiiht have drawn him from it." — Clinton MS. 

tClmton MS. Jlbid. 



Howe's sally into new jersey. 113 

of 1700 recruits from Europe, and had determined on a 
move up tlie Hudson, he wrote to Sir W. Howe his inten- 
tion and his motives for doing it; though he considered 
an attempt on the forts as rather desperate, he thought 
the tunes required such exertions. He feared he should 
not succeed, but flattered himself he had nothing to appre- 
hend but failure without any fatal consequences to New 
York. Sir W. Howe in answer told him that if his object 
was not of the greatest consequence, and almost certain of 
success, and m a short time, he was ordered to return, and 
send to Sir W. Howe the troops he had moved with, as 
Washington reinforced by Putnam had been enabled to 
attack him on the 9th, and that if he was not joined by the 
troops I had moved with, or till he was, he could not open 
the Delaware. I mention this fact and Sir W. Howe's 
reasons for withdrawing the force I had moved with • had 
I received this letter of Sir W. Howe's before I had 
moved, It must have stopt me; but receiving it after- 
wards, by a miracle succeeded in taking the forts I 
should have felt myself satisfied in proceeding had I anv 
hopes of success I had dispatched G. Vaughan with 
1/OOmentofeelforBurgoyne; cooperate with him; nay 
join him jf necessary. Vaughan had advanced near lOa 
miles and had 40 more to go to Albany, and 60 more to, 
join Burgoyne. He wrote me word the 19th he could 
h ar nothing certain of Burgoyne, but had apprehension. 
Alas ! Burgoyne had surrendered the 17th. Had I moved 
6 days sooner I should have found McDougal there and 
consequently must have failed; besides I could not risla 
mov that sort unless Burgo,-ne had express" a Ih 
that I should; and I did not receive his answer accenting 
my offer till the 29th. Had I made the attempt of he 
east side, and even beaten Putnam, I had still the Hud 
son to pass, and I had no boats, nor no vessel to protect 
my landing: thus, therefore, I must have failed. Had I 



Ill IIFK OK MA.IOU ANDRE. 

dolnyod my attack after 1 had passed the Thimderberg 6 
liours, Piitiiinn would have i>assed that river and i^ainod 
the I'orts, I'or thougli Sir Jainos Walhioe prevented his 
doing it from Peekskihi, he miiiht have done so by a 
■detoiir, and 1 must have been foiled. 1 tried the Impos- 
sible: a tolerable good arrangement, good luck, and great 
oxertion of Oiticers and Men succeeded. From the infor- 
mation 1 received just as I was landing at Howe's point, 
and which 1 dare not comnnmicate to anybody, T liad little 
hopes of doing more than covering Burgoyue's retreat to 
Ticonderoga, which 1 had no doubt of his attempting the 
l'2th; for as to his supposing I could take the forts and 
penetrate to Albany, and keep nj) the communication af- 
terwarils. he could not expect it."* 

This interesting statement refers to Clinton's move- 
ment against the American works at Verplauck's and 
Stony Points— one of the most creditable performances 
of the war. These works commanded the navigation of 
the Hudson and impeded tlie transmission of aid to Bur- 
goyne. "Lord Kawdon, then aide-de-camp to Sir H. 
Clinton, had been sent to reconnoitre Verplauck's Point; 
but he could not get near enough to ascertain the practica- 
bility of a landing.' "t Despite this, the English set 
forth by water with 3,000 men, and easily made good their 
landing at Verplauck's, on the eastern side of the river. 
Alarmed lest their plan should be to push on directly to 
Burgoyue. Putnam hurried to secure the passes above, 
while Clinton adroitly circumvented him by throwing 'JlOO 
of his little army to the western bank, and hastening to at- 
tack our forts ^lontgomery anil Clinton. A dangerous and 
ditlicult mountain — the Donderberg— had to be surmoimt- 
ed ere his troops could come to the assault; and, destitute 
of artillery, there was nothing left for them but to storm. 

♦Clinton .V5. tlbid. 



nPKRATIONS ON TirK TITIDSON. 1 1 f) 

It was late iji tii(! day when tliey drow iioar, "l)y a detour 
of seven miles, Iiaviug also a Jong defile to pass under a 
steep cliff, at tlu; end of which was Fort Montgomery, con- 
sisting of eight redoubts joined by an intrenchment." 
That post was inferior in strengtli to Fort Clinton, from 
which it was separated by a passable sti-eam; and both 
were assailed as tiu! day was closing. "Had not both 
these forts been attacked at the same instant, lUiither 
would have been cari'ied without gi-eat loss," observes 
Sir Henry, who himself directed the more dangei'ons on- 
set against Fort Clinton. "This attack was delayed till 
that of the left was judged to have bec-omo serious, and 
till it was dark, that the troops might he less exposed in 
moving up to it." The enterprise was successful. The 
forts were carried with a rush; and an iinmcnse (|uantity 
of military stores were captui-ed or d(;st!-oyed. Never- 
theless thei'e was a prodigious risk in the whole affair; 
and the English leader candidly owns how inucii his 
safety was due to the enterprise of "Sir James Wallace, 
who, by stopping the rel)el boats in Peekskiln, prevented 
Putnam fi-om passing to the forts."* 

But however detriirumtal these successes wei-e to our 
cause, they were more than atoned for by the fall of P>ur- 
goyne. That Clinton's object was the relief of that gen- 
eral is pretty certain; and to that (sxtent his expedition 
was a failure. 

"Sir H. Clinton, thinking (}. Burgoyne might want 
some cooperation (though he; had not call<(d for it in any 
of his letters), oiTcwil in his of the ]2tli September to 
make an attempt on the forts as soon as the expected rein- 
forcements should arrive from Fiiro|)e. Ocii. Burgoyne 

* CHnton MS. 



IIG LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

fought the battle of Saratoga on the 19th, and on the 21st 
tells Gen. Clinton that an attempt or even a menace of an 
attempt would be of use. Sir H. Clinton received this 
letter the 29th of September, and moved the 2nd of Octo- 
ber. On the 27th Sept., G. Gates [Burgoyne?] had re- 
ceived information tliat liis gallics, gunboats, &c., on Lake 
George iiad l)oen surprisinl and destroyed by Gen. Lin- 
coln, and he had consequently lost his communication with 
Canada. 'Tis pity he had not instantly fallen back to 
recover them; but thinking, 'tis presumed, he was under 
orders to Albany, he requests to know of me whether I 
can meet him there or supply him afterwards, and says 
he will stay to the 12th October for my answei'."* 

But the results of the second Saratoga battle, on the 
7th October, rather modified the British plans. 

"On the very day of this action, by giving the enemy 
jealousy for the East side, Sir H. Clinton lauded on the 
West, gained the mountain of Thunderberg, and by a 
tolerably well combined move, and wonderful exertion of 
the troops under his command, took all the forts by as- 
sault."! 

This accomplished, the partial attempt to succor Bur- 
goyue and to bring him supplies was jiroceeded in, and 
Vaughan was embarked for that purpose— "after the 
chain was broken, the chevanx-de-frieze removed, and 
provision for 5000 men for 6 months prepared Gen- 
eral Vaughan had orders to proceed immediately as high 
as his pilots could carry him to feel for Burgoyne, coop- 
erate with him, and join him if required." 

But on the loth October, Burgoyne was compelled to 
open negotiations for surrender; and neither Clinton nor 

* Clinton MS. f Ibid. 



OPEEATIONS ON THE HUDSON. 117 

Vaughan accomplished more for his relief than the de- 
struction at Esopus. Disappointed in their chief hoiae, 
the British presently returned to New York:— that such 
was mainly the motive of the expedition sufficiently ap- 
pears by the important private memoranda of Sir Henry 
himself, as above printed. 






CHAPTER VJ I. 



Tlic Hrilish t'lnbark I'or I'hihulcliiliia. — l>r;iiulv\viiu'. tho I'aoli. nnd 
lu'rinaiitowii. — Aiulre's Humanity. — Occiipaliou and Forlifi- 
calioii ol" Pliiladolpliia. — CliaraclfV of tlie (.'ity in IT;;. 




Hl'X'lOUS tiino was spt'ut in Iruitlfss atleinj)ts 
to briiii;' Wasliington to battle on eiiual 
u round in Jersey, ere Howe resolved to cir- 
t'liinvciit our army by moans of tlio floet, and 
to ajiproac'li i'liiiadolpliia from another quarter. This 
schomo, disapproved by some of his immediate subordi- 
nates, was oarofully eoneealod from the rest of the troops, 
who, on the '2'M of Juno. 1777, wore ouibarked at Amboy, 
in porfoot ignoranoo of thoir dostiuation.* The iitedia 
scieiitia of the sehoolmon tlio calculation of possible eon- 
soquenees of events that did not hai^pon— can alone de- 
tormino tho otToot of another ]ilan of tlio camiiaign. Had 
a powerful force marched northwardly to act in couuee- 
tiou with Burgoyne, the surrender at Saratoga might have 
been itrevented, the royal army increased in strength, and 
time still left to operate against Philadelphia ere the sea- 
son closed. A few ships of war threatening the New 
England coast or cannonading Boston, might have drawn 
to another quarter the militia that thronged to the aid of 
Ciatos. Nor did all his labor eventually much better 
Howe's situation. At Brunswick he was but sixty miles 

* "\ owe it to truth to say there was not, I believe, a mau in the 
army, exeept Loril Coi-nwallis and General Grant, who did not rep- 
robate the move to tlie southward, and see the necessity of a co- 
iijieration \\iil» General Burgoyne. .. .General Clinton told Lord 
G. (lennain. April '■.'Tth. — and Sir W. Howe repeatedly, after his 
return to .\n\eriea — his luunble opinion that Philadelphia had bet- 
ter close than open the cainpaisru, as it required an armv to defend 
it."— Clinton MS. 



ACTION AT BRANDYWINE. 119 

froju Pliihulelpliia; at Elk, ha was seventy; and if onr 
army's i)osition was less strong at Jjraudywine, its spirit 
was better and its force increased. 

When lie appeared in the Chesapeake, his ))rotlier the 
Admiral with line and phnnmct and in seaman's garb 
leading the boat that guided the fleet's course, it was (lues- 
tioned at Philadel])iiia whether Sir William aimed at Bal- 
timore, or a yet higher point. All doubts vanished on the 
25tli of August, when he landed. The debarkation was 
finislied on the 27tii ; and on the 28th, he niarciied seven 
miles and fixed head-quarters at the head of Elk, posting 
the troops two miles oft". On the 3rd of September, he led 
part of his army to Aickin's tavern; the light infantry 
and Jdgcrs skirmishing with the American advanced i)ar- 
ties for a mile and a half, and losing a dozen men in killed 
and wonndcsd. Knyi)hausen had been deta(!lied across 
Elk t'ei'i-y to Cecil Court-house to collect stores, and now 
rejoined at Aickin's; and on the Gth, Grant's division 
also came up. Hence, by easy stages, with Galloway in 
liis coacli following in the rcai', TFowc passed on through 
a fertile and fiiendly country; wiiih^ on Sunday, tlu; 24th 
of August, our army had marched through Philadeli)hia 
to meet him. Cheerful but half naked, their hats adorned 
with green boughs, and drum and fife sounding merrily, 
they came down Front and u}) Chestnut streets, and so 
over the Schuylkill. On the 11th of September, the citi- 
zens hearkened to the roar of i\\a artillery; and gathering 
by groui)S, according to their political inclinations, in the 
squares or ])ublie places, speculated in hope or in fear 
upon the results of the day. 

It was an unfortunate day for America, but less so than 
might have been. With 130()() men, and in the best [)Osi- 
tion the region al'forded, Washington waited the attack. 
He could do no better. By a larger and better force, and 



120 I.IFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

by m.-uKruvres as well conooivod as executed, ho was sur- 
prised and driven from tlie ii,round. At four A. M., Howo 
and Cornwallis marched from Kennett Squai'e with their 
left column, led by Grey, i\Iathew, and Agnew, and cross- 
ing the Brandywinc above and undiscovered, fell on our 
right flank and rear, while Kuyi)hausen forded the 
stream in front. This column had advanced seven miles 
from Kennett Square, and coming on the field about ten 
A. M., began a heavy cannonade. "When it was seen that 
Howe had an-ived, it passed the ford, storming the breast- 
works we had thrown up. As Moncrieffe rushed on with 
the leading files, he saw an American howitzer charged 
with grajie, and pointed to sweep away, in a moment more, 
himself and all about him. The matross stood in the act 
of applying the burning match ere he followed his retreat- 
ing comrades. "I will put you to death if you fire!" 
shouted Moncrieffe; and the man, startled from his self- 
possession, dropped the match and fled. Grey's brigade, 
consisting of the 15tli, 17th, 44th, and two battalions of 
the 42nd,* was the reserve of Cornwallis 's column, and 
was not engaged. Its character was so high, that it was 
preserved intact as a recourse in case Knyphausen failed; 
in which event Cornwallis might have had his hands full. 
And but for the false intelligence of Sullivan's videttes, 
who were drinking at a tavern when they should have been 
scouring the roads, Washington would probably have 
turned the tables on the German, by himself crossing the 
Brandywine and crushing the ox^posite force before the 
other column came to its aid. Nightfall found our army, 
its artillery destroyed, in a retreat that might have easily 
been made a rout. Had the pursuit been pressed it must 
have perished. The fatigues of the day induced Howe to 
remain that night on the battlefield. Since daybreak, to 
four P. M., when the onset began, one part of his men had 

t Tlio famous Highlanders— the "Black Watch." 



ACTION AT THE PAOLI TAVEEK. 121 

marched seventeen, tlie other seven miles. Of the former 
Grey's brigade of from 2000 to 3000 choice troops were on 
the spot, ready to go into action; two battalions of the 
guards and four of grenadiers had been astray in a wood 
and little engaged; nor had the 16th dragoons been em- 
ployed. The greater part of Knyphausen's column had 
borne no active part, for the retreat began almost as soon 
as it moved forward. It was very fortunate thus for 
America, that the darkness, which came on just as the 
whole British army was brought into possession of our 
position, persuaded Howe to discontinue the pursuit ; for 
he had at command a force which, if not perfectly fresh, 
was abundantly so in comparison with the fugitives, many 
of whom had marched as much through the day as Knyp 
hausen, and all would have had as long a journey as their 
pursuers ere they should be overtaken. An immediate 
pursuit would have gone far to demoralize and break up 
our troops, and prevented many from rejoining their reg- 
iments who were with them the next day.* 

Knyphausen's command moved on the r2th towards 
Chester; and on the 16th, the sick and wounded being 
sent to Wilmington, the army advanced to Goshen, where 
the Jdgers and light infantry dispersed some parties of 
our men. On the 18th, starting before dawn, it struck the 
Lancaster road, and coming two miles towards Philadel- 
phia, turned into that of Swedes Ford. Here an oppor- 
tunity rose to give Grey's division that active service it 
had missed on the 11th. Washington was advised on the 
18th that the English thought him crushed, and were leis- 

*"They lost an all important nig-ht, and this was, perhaps, their 
greatest fault iluring a war in which they committed so many 
errors. —Lafaydle AutoUography. " "lis pity Sir W. Howe could 
not have begun his march at nightfall instead of eight o'clock in 
the morning."— Clinton MS. Napier's words, however, give the 
best comment: "Had Caesar halted because his soldiers were 
fatigued, rharsalia would have been but a common battle." 



122 LIFE OF MAJOK ANDBE. 

urely bringing on their main army ; having advanced into 
tlie coimtry only the picked light troops. On the 19th, 
"Waj'ne wrote that he was closely watching thein, resolved 
to attack the instant they moved. He had approached 
within half a mile of their left flank at reveille-beat that 
morning, Init found them perfectly supine : "Tliere never 
was nor never will be a finer opportunity of giving the ene- 
my a fatal blow, than at present,— for God's sake, push on 
as fast as possible." During the day he kept on guard; 
and, persuaded that his position and force were unknown 
to the enemy, was confident of success in the movements 
that were to "complete Mr. Howe's business." He was 
encamped in the woods near the Paoli Tavern, on the Lan- 
caster road (which Andre had travelled before) about 
three miles in the rear of Howe's left. He had 1500 men 
and four guns ; and Smallwood with 150 Maryland mil- 
itia, and Gist with 700 men, were to join him the next day 
to harass Howe as he passed tlie Schuylkill. Of course, 
it was important to break up this design ; and before one 
A. M., of the 21st, Grey marched against him, through for- 
ests and a narrow defile, with the 42nd and 44th, and the 
2nd light infantry. The nature of the service was dan- 
gerous. WajTie's corps was known through the war for 
its stubborn and desperate conduct in fight; and his 
whole own life was characterized by a "constitutional at- 
tachment to the arbitrament of the. sword." Surprise 
and speed were necessary to success, for Smallwood lay 
but a mile off. To insure it, the Englishman enforced a 
measure that he had learned in Germany, and by which he 
got in America the sobriquet of No-flint Grey. He made 
his men uncharge their pieces, and knock out the flints. 
Not a shot could be fired ; they were to rely entirely on the 
bayonet. "Wayne himself always upheld his own faith in 
the marvellous virtues of cold steel ; but though he was 
apprised of Grey's movement, and took, as he thought. 



GERMANTOWN. 123 

every proper precaution, he had little opportunity on this 
occasion to practise resistance. At four A. M. his pickets 
were forced, and the light of his fires guided the enemy to 
his camp. The Americans, unable to form, and strug- 
gling irregularly or not at all, were instantly bayonetted. 
Our accounts put the killed and wounded at 150; the Eng- 
lish version says 300 and upwards ; two guns and seventy 
or eighty prisoners were taken, and while Wayne's men 
were in hasty flight, and Smallwood in march for their re- 
lief, the English with but twelve casualties returned in 
triumph with eight wagon-loads of arms, baggage, and 
stores. The army then moved towards Valley Forge, and 
destroyed what supplies were there that they could not 
remove. Thus we lost 7,000 barrels of flour for one item. 
Having now cleverly got between Washington and the 
Schuylkill, Howe passed that stream unopposed below the 
Forge and descended towards Philadelphia, destroying 
powder-mills, and taking a few prisoners and cannon on 
the route. On the 25th, he moved in two columns to Ger- 
mantown; and on the 26th, says a royal eye-witness, at 
eleven A. M., Cornwallis, with 3000 men, and accompanied 
by Harcourt, Erskine, and a cavalcade of distinguished 
officers, as well as Galloway, Story, the Aliens, and other 
leading Tories, entered the town among the loudest ac- 
clamations of the loyal population who had "too long suf- 
fered the yoke of arbitrary power. ' ' Other citizens have 
described the scenes of that day: the grenadiers, stead- 
fast and composed, splendidly equipped, with their music 
sounding the long-unheard strains of "God save the 
King," as they caught at the children's hands in passing 
with friendlj" greeting; the bearded Hessians, terrible in 
brass-fronted helmets, keeping step to wild strains that to 
the popular ear spoke of plunder and pillage in every 
note ; the closed houses ; and the throngs of citizens, clad 
in their best array, that lined the streets which the}'' had 



^^2l LIFE OF RIA.JOR ANDRE. 

patroUod by night since the 23rd, in suspicion that the re- 
tirini>- Aiiioricans wore disposed to fire the town. A dep- 
utation hesought TTi>we not to give it up to plunder. On 
the 25th, he sent a letter to Thomas Willing, assuring the 
]>eoplo that they should not be disturbed if they re- 
mained ti-anquil. INfeantime the main ai-my rested at 
Oerniantown, while strong detachments moved against 
tlH> American j^osts that still commanded the Delaware 
and prevented the arrival of the fleet. 

The loss of Philadelphia was grievous to the Ameri- 
cans, and almost nnlooked for;* and Washington de- 
termined, by a surprise and coup-de-main, to give Howe 
such a blow, ere his transports could come up, as to over- 
turn the plan. Germantown. where he now lay, was a 
long, narrow village of sombre moss-grown houses, sol- 
idly built of a dark stone, and each surrounded with its 
own enclosure, that extended for two miles along the road 
leading southwardly to Philadelphia. Tlie British were 
encamped at right angles across the town; Grey's brig- 
ade being on the line that stretched from the left to the 
Schuylkill. The people of the neighborhood were not 
open Tories, but they were averse to the war; and Howe 
apjiears to have had a warning of what was stirring. He 
afterwards denied that he was surprised; but it is not 
probable that he anticipated anything like so heavy an 

* Sept. 10, 1777. This moniing about 1 o'elook an express 
arrived to Congress giving an account of the Britisli Army having 
got to the Sweiles Ford on the other side of Schuylkill, whicii so 
much alarmed the gentlemen of the Congress, the military otliccrs. 
and other friends to the general cause of American Freedom, that 
they decamped with the utmost precipitation and in the greatest 
confusion ; insomuch that one of the delegates, by name of Fulsom, 
was obliged in a very Ful^nue manner to ride off without a saddle. 
Thus we have seen the men, from whom we have received, and 
from wliom we still expect protection, leave us to fall into the 
hands of (by their accounts) a barbarous, cruel and unrelenting 
oneniv. — Morton MS. 




THK MANOR-HOrSK. 
Oakhinkr's Island. 



GERMANTOWN. 125 

attack as he i-eceived from our whole army at dawn o)i the 
4th October. Sullivau aud Wayne k^d the advance, and 
encountered first the post, where with the 40tli, was tm- 
camped the 2nd light infantry that had given us so much 
trouble at Paoli. These stood their ground for nearly an 
hour, till their ammunition began to fail. Our men now 
took ample revenge. Driving all before them in their 
rage, they plied the bayonet furiously; and it was not 
until many were thus slain, that they listened to their of- 
ficers and gave quarter. The attack was vigorously 
pressed, with a promise of being successful ; but a dense 
fog caused everything to fall into confusion. About 120 
men of the 40th threw themselves into a large stone 
house, from which they kept up a heavy fire; the drum 
heating a jiarley to summon a surrender was mistaken for 
a retreat; panic seized our bewildered troops; and while 
one band believed itself in the full tide of victory, another 
would be hastily retreating thinking ail was lost. Turn- 
ing his front to the village, (irey led his brigade to close 
quarters with our people there, and repulsed them. They 
gave way about the same time in other quarters ; and the 
retreat becoming general, the pursuit was maintained 
by the enemy's cavalry as far as the Blue Bell Tavern, 
full eight miles. It cannot be denied that in this action 
the regulars on both sides behaved with great si)irit; and 
that the American retreat, occurring as it did, was the 
sudden result of one of those circumstances that no pre- 
caution can guard against with new troops. But though 
the discipline of both armies, according to Grey, was bad, 
that of ours was the worst. "You have conquered Gen- 
eral Howe," said a foreign officer of rank to Washington, 
"but his troops have beaten yours." On the first and tre- 
mendous sound of the firing, Cornwallis 's grenadiers took 
the alarm. Starting from Philadeliihia at a full trot, they 
ran the whole way to Gerniantown, and came breathless 
to the field just as all was over. The Highlanders, too^ 



126 LIFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

cjime on at speed, keeping pace witli tlie ea\ali-y. Tn 
fael, the detonations were so furious and incessant and 
from so many cpiarters, and the thickness of the fog so 
overwhehning, that while the combat lasted, it was impos- 
sible to tell in what force or with what success the Ameri- 
cans came on. At 11 A. 'SI., the prodigious clatter of bat- 
tle suddenly hushed, and the retreat was conducted in 
comparative stillness. 

The casualties on either side were severe. Chief 
among the enemy was General Agnew, whose brigade had 
sujiported Crey's. He is said to have been slain by an 
inhabitant who, lying in ambush, aimed at a decoration oh 
Agnew 's breast, and shot him down. Nor was our loss 
slight; and the next day the enemy were busily em]iloyed 
in burying our dead. "Don't bury them with their faces 
uji, and thus cast dirt in their faces," said a kindly- 
hearted British soldier; "for they also are mothers' 
sons." It is said by a distinguished American officer, 
who afterwards carefully examined the field, that our re- 
treat was providential, and the best thing that could have 
lia]ipened for us; since the force in opposition, and the 
thoroughly defensible position of the village (by reason 
of its numerous stone houses with enclosures, each of 
which could be made a stronghold by broken ]iarties of 
the enemy), would have brought about our annihilation 
with returning light. Clinton on the contrary suggests, 
in relation to the unliappy delay which was made befoi-e 
Chew's House, that the 40th occupied, and which was 
attacked, as the British owned at the time, with a "singu- 
lar intrepidity":— "Had Washington left a corps to ob- 
serve this house, and proceeded, there is no saying what 
might have been the consequence."* 

* CHntou MS. 



GEEMANTOWN. 127 

During the contest, a Lieutenant Whitman,* of Read- 
ing, was struck down by the enemy, and left for dead. 
He managed to crawl from the scene to a house in Wash- 
ington Lane, where he was sheltered and cared for. Soon 
after the action, on discovering that an American officer 
was thus concealed within their lines, the British put 
both Whitman and his host under arrest. In this emerg- 
ency the wounded man, having had probably some 
knowledge of Andre during his confinement at Lancaster 
or Carlisle, contrived to procure an interview with him; 
which terminated in Andre's obtaining a withdrawal of 
the arrest, and permission for Whitman to remain un- 
molested in Germantown until he was in a condition to 
return to his home. Such circumstances as these present 
the best evidences of the nature of that disposition which 
so entirely endeared its possessor to all whom he en- 
countered. 

A Philadelphian who, preserving friendly relations 
with the English, writes nevertheless very impartially, 
thus describes the posture of affairs on the day after the 
battle, and the language then held in the royal quarters : — 

"Oct. 5th. This morning I went to Germantown to see 
the destruction and collect, if possible, a true account of 
the action. From the accounts of the officers, it appears 
that the Americans surprised the Picquet Guards of the 
English, which consisted of the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers, 
some infantry, and the 40th regiment: altogether about 
500. The English sustained the fire of the Americans for 
near an hour (their numbers unknown) when they were 
obliged to retreat, the ammunition of the Grenadiers and 
Infantry being expended. The 40th regiment retreated 

* William Witnian, 3d Lieut. 9th Penn. Line, Col. Richard 
Butler. He had been shot throu.!;]! the body at Germantown, 
taken prisoner and paroled. He died Oct. 12, isOS. 



128 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

to Chow's House, hoing about 120 men, and supported tlie 
fire of the Americans on all sides. The Americans came 
on with unusual firmness, came up to the doors of the 
house, which were so strongly barricaded they could not 
enter. One of the Americans went u\) to a window on 
the side of the house to set fire to it and just as he 
was putting a torch to the window he received a bayonet 
through his mouth which put an end to his existence. 
The Americans finding the fire very severe retreated from 
the house: a small i)arty of the Americans, which had 
gone in near the middle of Germantown, and had sus- 
tained the fire in the street for some time, perceived the 
British coming up in such numbers that they retreated. 
General Grey with 5000 men pursued them to the Swedes 
Ford. His men being very much fatigued and very 
hungry and the Americans running so fast, that the gen- 
eral gave over the chase, and returned to his old encamp- 
ment. The greatest slaughter of the Americans was at, 
and near to Chew's Place: most of the killed and wound- 
ed that lay there were taken off before I got there; but 
three lay in the field, opposite to Chew's Place. The 
Americans were down as far as Mrs. Maganet's tavern. 
Several of their balls reached near to Head Quarters. 
From all of which accounts I apprehend, with what I have 
heard, that the loss of the Americans is the most consider- 
able. After I had seen the situation. at Chew's House, 
which was exceedingly damaged by the balls on the out- 
side, I went to Head Quarters, where I saw Major Bal- 
foui*, one of General Howe's aide-de-camps, who is very 
much enraged with the people around Germantown for 
not giving them intelligence of the advancing of Washing- 
ton's army; and that he should not be surprised if Gen- 
eral Howe was to order the country for 12 miles round 

* This was Nisbet Balfour afterwards Colonel, and infamous 
for the legal murder of Colonel Hayne, in South Carolina. 



OCCUPATION AND FORTIFICATION OP PHILADELPHIA. ] 29 

Germantown to be destroyed, as the people would not run 
any risque to give them intelligence when they were fight- 
ing to preserve the liberties and properties of the peace- 
able inhabitants. On our setting ot¥ we see His Excel- 
lency the General attended by Lord Cornwallis and Lord 
Chewton: the General not answering my expectations."* 

At this time the grenadier and the light infantry com- 
pany of each regiment was separated from its compan- 
ions, and marshalled respectively in battalions; which 
explains the appa;rent weakness of some of the English 
corps, thus deprived of a large part of their nominal 
strength. On the 19th October, the army moved at day- 
light for Philadelphia; McLane, and a few American 
light-horse disguised as British, following close on their 
heels to the heart of the city, picking up a few royal offi- 
cers and just missing the adjutant-general and Howe 
himself. t The General's quarters were at the house of 
our General Cadwalader, who was with Washington. 
His men, in fine condition and anxious to be led against 

* jrorton MS. 

t Allan McLane was one of the best men in our service. In the 
emergency of the war, he consumed all the table and household 
linen of his family in clothing his troopers, and throughout was as 
active in our cause as he was intelligent and brave. On one occa- 
sion he entered Philadelphia disguised as a countryman; and hav- 
ing transacted his business, was returning to camp, when he was 
overhauled by an English picket. The commanding officer ques- 
tioned him narrowly; but the supposed peasant was adroit in his 
replies, and ready to agree that Washington would not adventure 
an attack. The Englishman gave him meat and drink, and dis- 
missed him after he was thoroughly warmed at the watch-fire. 
McLane hurried to his own station, led out his troopers and some 
infantry, and presently brought away captive the whole party of 
the outpost that had so hospitably entertained him. Had he failed 
in the onset, or been taken, his fate would certainly have been the 
gallows. This authentic anecdote shows that a patriotic soldier 
will shrink from no means of helping the state at the peril of his 
own life. 



loU LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

llie Ainorioans, were oneamiu'd from below Kensington on 
the Delaware nearly to the Schuylkill. The cause named 
in despatches for this move was to obtain a more con- 
venient i)Osition for the reduction of our river-forts ; ])ut 
in camp it was attributed to the lines at Germantown be- 
ing too large for ready defence. The experience of the 
4th was not lost. Howe's plan was now to fortify this 
city, so that it could be held by a small garrison, while he 
took the field. The troops that entered with Cornwallis 
had been quartered at the State House, the Bettering (or 
Poor) House, &c., and had at once set to fortifying the 
river front against our ships and galleys. The dispo- 
sition made of the main army placed the Hessian grena- 
diers on Noble and Callowhill, between 5th and 7th streets; 
the British grenadiers, 4th, 40th. and iloth, (S;c., on the 
north side of Callowhill, from 7tli to 14th streets; eight 
other regiments were on the high grounds of Bush Hill, 
from 14th Street in about a line with Vine to the upper 
Schiiylkill Ferry, near which was a Hessian post; while 
tlie Jdgcrs were on a hill at 22d Street and Pennsylvania 
Avenue. Infantry corps were at Sth, near Green streets 
and by 13th, on the Ridge Road. The 16th dragoons 
and three foot regiments were by a pond between Vine 
and Race, and Sth and 12th streets ; and a body of Jdgers 
at the Point House on the Delaware. Wlien winter came 
on, the men were quartered in the public buildings and in 
private houses, and in the old Britisli barracks in the 
Northern Liberties. The artillery were on Chestnut, 
from 3d to 6th streets, and their park in the State-House 
Yard, now Independence Square. On the north side of 
the town, ten redoubts, connected by strong i«ilisades, 
were erected, from the mouth of Conoquonoke Creek, on 
the Delaware near Willow Street, to the Upper or Callow- 
hill Street Ferry. They were thus situated:— near the 
junction of Green and Oak streets, where the road then 



CHAEACTEB OP PHILADELPHIA IN 1777. 1.31 

forked for Kensington and Frankford; a little west of 
Noble and 2nd streets ; between Sth and 6th, and Noble 
and Buttonwood streets; on 8tli street, between Noble 
and Buttonwood ; on lOtli, between Buttonwood and Pleas- 
ant; on Buttonwood, between 13th and Broad; on 15th 
between Hamilton Street and Pennsylvania Avenue; at 
18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue ; at 21st and Callow- 
hill streets; and on the Schuylkill bank near the Upper 
Ferry. These works were begun on the 1st of October. 
The country before them towards the Schuylkill was hilly, 
l)ut towards the Delaware level and comparatively open 
though dotted with woods and cut up by the stout rail 
fences of farms. The latter were soon seized for fuel by 
the English, and orchard and grove went down for the 
palisades and abatis of the works; the lines of which 
were still evident in 1780, as well as the ruined houses 
and defaced fields they had occasioned. The work at the 
right, or Delaware end, was a large, square battery, with 
a handsome saw-shajied pai-apet, each I'edan of which 
held three men.* On the 23d October, a body of English 
brought up the floating bridge from the lower (Gray's), 
and established it at the Middle Ferry, where it was 
guarded by the camp of the 71st, and a fascine redoubt 
at Chestnut Street. It was thought by some, however, 
that the Upper Ferry, as nearer to the camp and possess- 
ing advantages of ground, was its proper place. 

It is difficult to recognize to-day the Philadelphia of 
1777, though it was then the largest and, in many senses, 
the metroi:)olitan city of America. Its extent was from 
Christian Street on the south to Callowhill on the north, 
and its greatest width east and west was to 9th Street, 
between Arch and Walnut. Its legitimate population, 
when all were at home who were now with our army, may 

* The streets are named as they now exist, withoiat regard to the 
open lands when the works were thrown up. 



132 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

have possibly approachetl 30,000. The exact returns of 
the city and liberties, made to Howe, in October, 1777, 
show 4,!»41 males nnder eighteen; 4,482 over eighteen and 
nnder sixty; and 12,344 females of all ages; a total of 
21,7C)7. The only streets yiarallel with the river, that were 
closely built up, were 3d, AVater, and Front;— groves and 
gardens, hills and ponds, were interspersed through the 
greater portion of the place. Above (Jlli or 7th streets 
was generally open country, and the low meadows of J\Ioy- 
amensing and Passyunk abounded in game. The Dela- 
ware shore was open in places where there were not 
wharves ; and the better classes resided in its vicinity, in 
"Water, and ]Market, and below Dock in Chestnut and 
AN'alnut streets; after the war their mansions became 
the resorts of trade. Such as it was, Jefferson declares 
Philadelphia to have been handsomer than London, far 
handsomer than Paris. 

Social rank too was strongly marked. The gentry con- 
sisted as well of the original Quaker families— rich, re- 
spectable, but by religion averse to the gayeties of the 
world— as of another class, chiefly of the English church, 
who often were or had been connected with the proprie- 
tary government, and who gave its tone to the fashionable 
society of the day. Many of these had travelled abroad, 
and their houses were decorated with valuable prints, or 
copies of gi-eat masters. Lord Carlisle describes the 
good style of living among the chief people in 1778; and 
the pleasures of the table being almost the only carnal 
vanity that it was lawful for a Quaker to indulge in, we 
need not wonder that even then the city was famous for its 
choice Madeira and French wines, and its AVest India 
turtle. John Adams went into eestacies over the fare 
that was set before him. Chastellux says the formal din- 
ner-hour was live or six P. M., and goes into the details 
of the repast as minutely as Adams: the roast meat and 



CHARACTER OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1777. 133 

warm side dishes, the sweet pastry and eonfeetionery; 
and, the cloth being removed, the fruit and nuts, the toast- 
drinking, and the coffee that warned the guests to rise. 
Tlie ladies he found singularly well-informed and at- 
tractive, and i^raises the skill with which tlie harpsichord 
was touched, and the pretty timidity of the songstress. 
They dressed, he says, with elegance. Another French- 
man paints them as tall and well-formed; their features 
regular, and complexions fair but often without color; 
their carriage less graceful than noble. The hair was 
often dressed without powder, and brought up high over 
the top of the head. It was the l)elles of this place and 
time whom Mrs. Adams characterized as "constellation 
of beauties." "With what ease," says another lady, 
"have I seen a Chew, a Penn, an Oswald, an Allen, and a 
thousand others, entertain a large circle of both sexes; 
the conversation, without the aid of cards, never flagging 
nor seeming in the least strained or stupid. ' ' The leaders 
of this circle were decidedly loyal; they rather ignored 
Mrs. Washington when she passed through the town in 
1775-6, and were in the height of their glory during 
Howe's occupation; of all which the Whigs took ample 
revenge, by shutting them out from the assemblies, after 
the British had gone away. Nevertheless it may be re- 
marked, that probably in no other American city is there 
so large a proportion of the better society composed of 
the same families whose members constituted it a cen- 
tury ago as in Philadelphia.* The dress of the gentry 
was generally a little in arrear of the English fashions. 

* Burnaby, who travelled through America in 1760, particularly 
notices the beauty and elegance of the women of this city, and the 
love of pleasure and the cultivated tone that distinguished its so- 
ciety. The reader will be amused to hear that, in 1778, among the 
young ladies of Philadelphia there were no books so charming as 
Juliet Grenville, Caroline Melmoth, and the History of Mr. Joseph 
Andrews. 



134 LIFE OK ]\IA,7Ult ANDKE. 

Powilored heads with clubs and queues; silver or gold- 
lacod coats of broadcloth, of almost every hue save red 
(which color, on auy but a soldier's back, bespoke, at 
this time, "a creole, a Caroliuian, or a dauciug-master") 
knee-breeches and stockings, low shoes and large buckles, 
made uji their attire. Gold watches were rare; silver 
were used, even by men of rauk. Every one of a certain 
class was at least known by appearance; a strange gen- 
tleman was instantly observed. Many of these large- 
acred men were moderate in their political views, favor- 
ing neither extreme, but content to abide the result. 
Some, indeed, embarked tlicir all on eitluM- venture. Cad- 
walader and Dickinson followed Washington; (Jalloway, 
Allen, Clifton, sided with the Crown; but the most adopt- 
ed the resolution of Ross, who, says Graydon, stuck to his 
ease and ^ladciia, and dechuvd for neutrality; let who 
would be King, he well knew that he should be subject. 
The large private houses were few, but their appearance 
was stately and imposing. That in High, near 6th Street, 
occupied as Sir AVilliam Howe's cpiarters, was subse- 
quently "Washington's abode. 

The distinction, so strictly drawn before the war, be- 
tween the gentlemen and the tradesmen, had not yet worn 
out ; and people still dressed and lived according to their 
station. The workman was apparelled with leather 
breeches, checked shirt, coarse flannel jacket, and neat's 
hide shoes. Porridge was the morning and evening 
meal. Domestic servants were iisuallv negro slaves, or 
German and Irish redemi)tioners, who were bought and 
sold for a term of years. The generality of houses were 
plainly furnished with rush-bottomed chairs, pewter 
platters, wooden trenchers, delft-ware, and the like. Sil- 
ver tankards and China i>unch-bowls were evidences of 
prosperity, as were the small mirrors in wooden frames, 



CHARACTER OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1777. I35 

and the nialiogany tea-boards that are still to be some 

0"::^;:'' " "" 1-iber-roon.s of old-time bore. 
Olass tmnl,lers were rarely seen; a dipper for the punoh- 

who did not have recourse to the vessel itself. About a 
dozen churches were to be found in the town; but the 
Americans had removed all the bells ere Howe' a xivaT 
lest they should be melted by the enemy. Chastollux 
draws a striking picture of the contrast between the n^ 
watchfulness of the Quaker service and the music and 
chanting the next place of worship he entered, which 
appears to have been one of the Church of England The 
streets were but in part paved and lighted; and bridges 
m several paces were thrown across Dock Creek, wMch 
flowed up into the very heart of the town. As for the in- 
clinations of the majority of the people that Howe found 
there it seems clear that they were loyal, though indis- 

blaclf t, 7' .' ?'" '" "'""^ P"^-*- "^ proposition to 
blacken the front of every Tory's house, that was in vogue 

among the ultra Whigs on the return of the city to Ihe 
American sway, was quietly put aside lest, it would seem, 
It should proclaim their strength. Just so the Romans 
forbade a disting-uishing livery to their slaves; quantum 
pencidim, immineret si servi nostri numerare nos coepis- 
sent. Dr. Franklin says that the Quakers, then a numer- 
ous and wealthy people in Pennsylvania, had given to the 
Revolution "every opposition their art, abilities and influ- 
ence could suggest;" and it is probable that the ill-usage 
which many of the sect received from the Whigs durino- 
the war would have led to armed resistance, were such a 
step consistent with their pacific principles. As it was 
their sympathies were largely with the British; nor were 
there wanting others who, unrestrained by conscientious 
scruples, were apparently ready to serve the Crown 
Nor, however we may condemn their actions who whether 



L'?6 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

passively or actively resisted American Independence, 
should we universally impugn their motives. The loc of 
the Tories of the Kevolution was cast in the same land 
with the Whigs ; their education was under the same po- 
litical and social influence; many of them were of char- 
acter unhlemished by aught but the final heresy, and of 
families honorably identified through generations with 
the history of the country and with its private benefac- 
tions; some gave their lives, others princely estates, to 
witness the sincerity of their belief. To the one side as 
to the other we may look for and find equally conduct 
susceptible of the imputation of pure or of impure insti- 
gation. That the Tories erred, was and is the conviction 
of our side of the house. The very act by which they 
thought to establish their fidelity sealed their guilt. But 
the standard of success, by which they are so often judged, 
is a poor test of truth. Weighed in this scale, another 
turn to affairs would have made them heroes and justified 
the old Jacobite paradox:— 

Treason doth never prosper — what's the reason? 
Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason. 

— Sir John Harrington, (15G1-1G12). 



I f ..^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 








AllTiiirs at Philadelphia.— Disorders and Discontents.— Fall of Red 
Bank.— Andre follows Grey with Howe to Whilemarsh.— Char- 
acter of Sir AVilliam Howe. 

:N the spring of 1777, a clever Pliiladelphia 
writer had divided the people into five 
classes. The Rank Tories came first. Tlie 
Moderate Tories were such as preferred the 
English connection of 1763, vahied worldly prosperity, 
hated New England, and hived the Rank Tories. The 
Timid Whigs distrusted American power, the cost of 
the war, and the Continental paper-money; but were 
not disinclined to Independence, if it could be got. 
Avarice was supposed to be their mainspring. The 
Furious Whigs, says the writer, injure the cause of Lib- 
erty as much by their violence as the Timid Whigs by 
their fears. They think the destruction of Howe's army 
less important than the detection and punishment of the 
most insignificant Tory; that the common forms of jus- 
tice should be suspended towards a Tory criminal ; and 
that a man who only speaks against our common defence 
should be tomahawked, scalped, and roasted alive. They 
are likewise all cowards, who skulk under the cover of an 
office, or a sickly family, when they are called on to oppose 
the foe in the field. Woe to the community that is gov- 
erned by this class of men. Lastly, he enumerates the 
Staunch W^higs -temperate, firm, and true; friends to 
their country, but holding life and goods as less than 
American Independence. The three orders first named 
now prevailed in Philadelphia ; and it is not too much to 
say that a majority of them owed to this circumstance 



138 LlL'i; OV -MAJOR ANDRE. 

their oonvovsion to opjwsito sonlinionts. Tlio comlnot of 
tho roynl nnny was Tar i'roiii satisrat'tory. The Quakers, 
hahitually heuevoleut yet teuacious of the rights of prop- 
erty, were shocked at once by its kioseuess of morals and 
its severity of diseijiliue. Their effects had been already 
diminished by American exactions, yet tliey were reported 
to have made a free gift of £G,000 to the British on their 
arrival, and to have subsequently been called on for £"20,- 
000 more. Their lirst grievance was the inllaging to 
which the citizens were subjected, and to which many of 
the army became so accustomed during the war, that its 
rethu'tion on the ]u>ace was the means, according to Scott, 
of inundating Cireat Britain with rutlians of every de- 
scription; so that in Edinburgh alone six or seven dis- 
banded soldiers woiild be under sentence of death at tho 
same time. While yet at tiermantown. the 3od, though a 
pattern regiment in the lield, was distinguished for its 
light-tingers ; but the Hessians were the boldest opera- 
tors. Their pay, which was to come from their own sov- 
ereign, was not provided regularly, and their disci]iline 
consequently was bad enough to give Howe trouble in 
correcting it. With the English privates they did not get 
on pleasantly; arrogant, full of the idea of immediate 
allotments of land, and of living in free quarters with 
unlimited license to plunder, they incensed the inhabitants 
to such a degree, that many a farmer who hesitated to 
slay his fellow-countrymen, thought as little when he had 
tlie opportunity to shoot a Hessian as a hawk. Their of- 
ficers could not understand why war should not be waged 
here as they had seen it in Europe. "No American 
town." they said, "has been laid under contribution; and 
what is there to destroy? Wooden houses deserted of 
their inliabitants, pigs, and poiiltrv!" In the general 
confusion that prevailed between the arrival of the army 
and its tinal going into quarters, no doubt unusiial li- 



DISOKDF.RS AND DISCONTENTS. 139' 

cense prevailed; and the newspapers of tlie dav are filled 
with notices of robberies, several of them npon JJritish 
officers. Seventeen watchmen were hitherto sufficient to 
protect the city ; but when the army and fleet swelled the 
population to the neighl)orhood of 50,000, a hundred and 
twenty were scarce thought enough. A stringent procla- 
mation of the General's as to these practices was issued 
on the 7th November; but it proved a dead letter against 
the disorders that in one or another form had irritated 
some of the best people. The neighboring farms were 
freely spoiled by the soldiery. On the 28th September one 
of Harcourt's dragoons had four hundred lashes for such 
an offence, and another was hanged; and their command- 
er gave the utmost offence to the distressed proprietors by 
his peremptory refusal to listen to their intercessions to 
spare the backs and the lives of his troopers who had 
robbed the King's liegemen. About the same time a for- 
aging party brought in a great number of cattle from the 
neighborhood of Darby, to the discontent of their owners. 
On the 19th October a hundred Hessians went foraging, 
or rather robbing, among the farms where now stands the 
Naval Asylum. Their officer permitted them to take all 
the vegetables they could find. A person interested thus 
describes the scene:— 

"Being afraid they would take our cabbage, I applied 
for a guard for the house and garden, which was imme- 
diately granted, and by that means prevented our cabbage 
from being plundered. After they had taken all John 
King's cabbage they marched off. [I] brought oui' cab- 
bage home. It was surprising to see with what rapidity 
they run to and with what voraciousness they seized upon 
John King's cabbage and potatoes, who remained a si- 
lent sjoectator to their infamous depredations." 

The Hessians repeated their visit the next day, taking 



140 ITFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

everything in tlu> \v;iy of hay. vogetahles, «S;(\, tliat they 
conkl hiy hands ninni, nntil a sqnad of ITarconrt's dra- 
goons arrived and interfered, and nnnle them go hack, 
lint for weeks the thing was oontinned; tlio officers sanc- 
tioned the i^lnnder of vegetaMos. i^c, till the people were 
thoronghly jn-ovoked. Thoy wore even ooniiiolled at last 
to remove and conceal their fences lest the British should 
take them for fuel and the fields were thus left open and 
improtected. Nov was it till the 9th January, 1778, when 
the ]iatrol was ordereil to stop and examine every one 
found in the streets without a lantern between tattoo 
(8.80 P. ^r.) and reveille, that a veal check was given to 
tlic noctuvnal housebreaker.* 

A succession of skirmishes had ensued along the lines 
ever since the British arrived. On the 27th September, a 
cannonade was kept up from 9 to 10 a. m.. between four 
guns in their shore-batteries and our little fleet of a frig- 
ate of 34 and a ship of 18 guns, four row-galleys, and a 
schooner, till the frigate grounded and struck, and the 
others retired. The schooner as she came down lost her 
foremast and was abandoned. At 3 P. M., about 100 of 
our men attacked about 30 British on the ground now oc- 
cupied by the Xaval Asylum (probably of Harcourt'.s 
dragoons who were posted there,) and killed or wounded 

* As the necessity of the case had so long failed to produce snch 
an order, we may suppose some personal motive now prevailed. 
Perhaps the affair last preceding; its appearance may luwe had 
an etTect. The following notice is from the Pennsylvania Ledg'.r, 
.Ian. 7. 1T78. It woufd be curious if the initials referred to 
Andre: — ''Three Guineas Eeirard. Was stolen out of a house in 
Walnut Street. Sunday evening last, the following articles, viz. 
A claret coloured ratteen siiit of clothes, lined with blue satin, 
with spangled gold buttons; a pair of white cassimer breeches; 
some siiirts marked J. A. with several other things: also a ladies 
black silk hat and cloak. Whoever will secure the thief and effects 
shall receive the above reward; and for the etfects without the 
thief Two Guineas upon their delivery to the Printer." 



HOWE S POSITION. 141 

tliree of tlieir offir^ers and two men. On the 4tli October, 
after shots had been exchanged for an hour witliout effect, 
three American columns, with two field-pieces, appeared 
on the opposite side of the Schuylkill, at the Middle Ferry, 
and opened a general fire on 30 dismounted dragoons who 
guarded it. Reinforcements ari-iviiig to the latter, our 
men retreated leaving their guns by the water-side, but 
soon returned and bore them away. Only one man (an 
American) was wounded in this affair, which was wit- 
nessed by many of the citizens. On the 6th, 300 wounded 
British were brought from Germantown and lodged in the 
Seceders' and the Pine Street Presbyterian churches, and 
the old theatre ; and the worst injured in the City Hos- 
pital. The wounded Americans, who were already neg- 
lected, were placed in the Presbyterian church and in two 
new houses in 4th Street. On the 12th, our patrols wei-e 
ranging through all the vicinity, and seizing obnoxious 
Tories. On the night of the 6th, 300 militia had entered 
Chester and captured the loyal sheriff" of Sussex County, 
for whose arrest the Delaware government had offered 
$300 reward; and at 4 P. M., on the 15th, a party cut the 
rope of the Middle Ferry, and exchanged platoon fires 
with the light dragoons. On the evening of the 16th, the 
troops left at Wilmington, who it was supposed would 
have attacked Bed Bank, where our flag was hoisted that 
very morning, arrived at Philadelphia, leaving their sick 
and wounded at Gray's Ferry. A number of Hessians 
followed on the 20th. 

Howe had written to Clinton that he was not strong 
enough to open the Delaware, and ordered reinforcements 
to be sent to him. On the 21st October, Donop with 2,- 
500 Hessians mai-ched against Red Bank, crossing the 
Delaware in flat-bottomed boats sent up by night from the 
fleet, and passing from Cooper's Ferry to Haddonfield, 



1-i- l.IKK OF MA.IOU AXDUE. 

wlioro a qunntity of stores wore oapturod. This post anfl 
that on Mud Islaiul. oaoli about five milos holow Phila- 
dolpliia. tonvtlior with the clifnui.r-de-fri.<e thoy proteotod 
oontroUod tlio naviijatiou of the Dehiware. Till it was 
fnv Howe's i>osition was a simple oul-do-sao: parted 
frou\ his supplies, and soareity already exhibited, he rest- 
ed within a triangle of wliieh the Delaware and Sehuylkill 
were the sides and his works the base. If the attack med- 
itateil in the Anieriean eamp was thus made dangerous, so 
also was his own removal; for our army in at least equal 
numbers lay before him, and so long as the fleet could be 
shut out there was a prospect of reducing him by starva- 
tion, or by a ruinous and imperfect retreat across Jersey 
The itnportance of clearing the way was therefore well 
understood by "the great count." as he was called in 
Philadelphia, when for the especial distinction of himself 
and his men. Ponop applied out of turn for this commaml. 
For the Americans he had indeed a most sovereign con- 
tempt; bxit it is possible that other circumstances may 
have governed his conduct. There were feuds in the 
army; and his countrymen had been freely spoken of. 
The Americans with great reason regarded them with 
utter abhori-enco. The English Opposition, unmindful 
of the tivaty stipulations that sent them, perhaps against 
their inclinations, to this country, lavished continual con- 
tumely on their heads. To the sea-stock of old hock wine 
their chief had laid in ei-e sailing, ministers were invoked 
to add the in-esistible temptation of plenty of sour-krout 
for "the dear-bought cut-throats;" and in the coach that 
Pe Heister insisted on carrying with him over the ocean, 
it was almost wished that he might lie cofHned beneath the 
waves like Pharaoh in his chariot. Their servii^s were 
ridiculed, and an English nobleman sang, iu ivlation to 
officers of the Brunswick corps.— 



THE ASSAULT ON IIKD BANK. I43 

"We shall not with much sorrow road 
How Sclatzon, Kiiolzoii, HlMlzdnin hlml 
Unless we hreak a lnolh." 

Howe was opposed politically 1., (|,o Ministers, an.l i(, is 
prohahlo these ami otiu.r diatribes reael.ed l.ead-quarters; 
and tliough Andre, by long residence in Germiny, was 
prepared to hve in friendly relations with Donop'ull of 

he anny were not. De lleister had already gone home 
m aiage; and it is not likely his subor.linates were less 
sensitive. A sufficient ran.part, too high and steep to be 
earned wi hout adders and surrounded by an abatis and 
ditch, constitnted the fort; it was defended by 300 valiant 
men On the morning of tlie 22nd October, Dono,) l,alt<.d 
just beyond its cannon-shot, and a dnun followed bv an 
oilicer brought a summons to surrender. "The Kin"- of 

M.gland," were the words, "orders his rebellions subfects 
^0 lay down their arms; and tliey are warned that if'they 
stand tlie battle they shall receive no (luarter. " The --u' 
nson replied that they were content neitlier to give quar- 
ter nor to take i^t. At 4 P. M., the enemy's guns opened 
on he place, and the Hessians rushed to tlie storm The 
tirst outwork was carried; and, with shouts of triimmh 
and waving of hats,-as thinking the day their own 
-they advanced against tlie abatis. But Oonoj, seems 
to have now entertained no such thought of victory, 
iliough he saw success was almost impossible, he resolved 
to proceed; and giving his watch and purse to a bastard 
son of Lord Bute's, who was with liis party, he plunged 
into the thickest of the fight. It was said at the tinKTin 
/ hiladelphia that lie considered his orders to be peremp- 
tory, and indeed they were so esteemed there; but Howe 
m his dispatch of the 25th simply observes that tliey were 

to proceed to the attack;" while in his Narrative Jie 
affirms them to have been discretionary, according to the 
chances of succeeding. Jt is probable that Donop's 



144 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

lumglity spirit could not brook the shame, after all that 
had passod. of rotnrniug- alivo and unsuooossful. But the 
rampart was unattaiiiahlo without ladtlors or iiioneers. 
A front and a tlank tiro mowed down the assailants. 
The drmnmor that had approaolied the fort in the morn- 
ing heat the ohargo at their head: he was a marked man. 
and iVU on the tirst tire; and with him the oflioer who had 
brought the sununons. The leaders smote vainly with 
their swords on the abatis, and the men strove to tear it 
down; they fell by scores in the attempt. Donoi^ him- 
self, distinguished by his courage and by his handsome 
person, on which was displayed the order he bore, was 
strtick in the hip, swooned, and was left for dead. A few 
of his men sheltered themselves beneath the parapet; the 
rest tied. "When all was over, a feeble voice was heard 
among the heaps of slain, saying, "Whoever you are, 
draw me hence." He was extricated, and our men de- 
manded of him if he was still determined to give no quar- 
ter. "I am in your hands," he replied; "you may re- 
venge yourselves." Ascertaining that it was Mauduit, 
a French officer, who had taken him up— "Je suis con- 
tent," he cried; *'je meurs eutre les mains de I'honneur 
mome." Every care was given him, for "Washington was 
anxious that he should be saved ; but he died in three days. 
He was intimate with St. Germain, the French minister of 
war: and his last hours were bestowed on a letter recom- 
mending Maudxiit to his favor. "It is finishing a noble 
career early," he calmly said when the end approached; 
"but I die the victim of my ambition and of my sover- 
eign's avarice." In England, Towusheud satirically 
suggested that proper care and twenty pounds sterling 
would have provided ladders, and saved to the Treasury 
the cost of 600 slain Hessians at forty pounds a man. 



FALL OF UED BANK. 145 

"Sir William's conqTiosts raise a smile. 
Lo, Red-Bank yields, and eke Mud Jslo, 

Which Hessians storiii'd— pell-mell ! 
The ditch was wet— they had no bladders, 
The wall was hi<jh— they had no ladders, 

So Donop I'oiig-ht and fell!" 

But it was not until a month lator tJiat tlic works, so skil- 
fully planned by the nnfortiuiate Du Ooudray,* were 
beaten down by tlie royal batteries to an extent which 
comi^ellcd their evacuation, and left Lord Howe master 
of the stream. Meantime small pai'ties of our people kept 
up a constant disturbance along the lines, ai)i)i'oaching 
witiiin half a mile of the Kensington outposts. A royal 
detaclnnent, crossing the Schnylkill on the 22nd, broke up 
the floating bridge at (J ray's, and brought it up to the 
Middle Ferry. On the 26th the picket on the farther side 
was attacked for fifteen minutes by our people till a regi- 
ment had crossed the bridge for its relief; but soon after 
the floods came and carried the structure away. These 
little affairs kept the enemy perpetually in motion. They 
were busied also with building two floating batteries on 
the Schuylkill, which, though when launched were too 
leaky for use, were presently put in better trim and sent 
down against lied Bank. Three or four brigs and sloops 
with provisions seem to have slijiped u]) fi-om the fleet on 
the 11th November; but over 300 sail still lingered below, 
by whose absence 12,000 men had already been detained in 
idleness for seven precious weeks. Excessive rains and the 
cutting of the dykes retarded the English works. In re- 
lieving guai'd, their men marched sometimes breast-deep 
in water. The American works were however now ceas- 
ing to be tenable ; that on Mud Island was abandoned on 
the 16th; and on the 18th, Cornwallis, with Grey and 

* P. C. J. B. du Coudray was a French oOicer, who had only been 
in the country a few months. He was drowned while crossing the 

Schuylkill, in September, 1777. 



10 



1 It! l.lt'lC OK MA.101! ANHRE. 

2500 uu'ii. crossed tlio Si'huylkill at the Middle Ferry to 
iittiU'k IuhI r>!mk. On the way to t'liestor Andre saw a 
few more of the liorrors of war. At the />V(U' /)(•// Tavern 
the Ameriean picket retreated within doors and from the 
windows sliot (Knvn a conple of grenadiers. 'I'licir com- 
railes hurst in and, ere their oilicers could inevent. hav- 
oneted tive of our men. The rest were taken. Plunder 
jn-evailed on the road, and the lionses of AVhigs were con- 
smued. I'y 11 A. M. the I'.rilish were crossing the IVla- 
ware at Thester. anil, with the troops just come from Xew 
York, were so rapidly pushed against Ked Bank, tiiat it 
was impossible to relieve it. The place was evacuated 
on the llOth. Oi the vessels that had Invn sheltered by its 
gmis some were tired, and at four A. ^[. on the 21st. came 
drifting up the river on the tlood-tide to witliin two miles 
of the city; but i-arried back by the ebb. exploded harm- 
lessly after (laming for five hours. In the thick fog that 
prevailed, the gondolas passed by, despite the heavy tiring 
of the Knglish frigate Ih-hiirair. It was thus known 
that Ked Bank had fallen; and as the design oi a forward 
movement hinged on that event, the loyal believed that 
Oornwallis was now to pass up to Burlington and thence 
get into Washington's rear. On the morning of Novem- 
ber 124th the fleet began to eome in and business to revive. 
Oornwallis brought 400 cattle from Jersey on the ensuing 
day; and on the next, while sixty-three sail were in sight 
between the town and Gloucester Point. Lord PI owe came 
on shore and the citizens made up their minds that Sir 
AVilliam would not pursue Washington that winter. They 
learned their mistake, however, on the following day; for 
so ill were Howe's secrets kept that it was the town-talk 
that the main army would march on the 2nd December. 
IVtacluuents were sent over Schuylkill; susixvted spies 
weiv seizeii: and various country-houses, some the prop- 
erty of Tories, were fired because the American pickets 



FAT J, OF IU',1) RANK. 147 

liacl found Uicin ;i convenient ninhnsli wlicncc lo shoot 
down the enemy. Most of tlie bnildings aloii^- the lines 
were by tiiis time destroyed; mid it was even o.xpeeted 
that Germantown would soon be burned. 

Leaving' a fcnv resriments to guard tlie city, Ihc i'.rillsli 
army niarolicd forth by the Germantown toad at einiit 
P. M., Dcccniber lib, the van led by (!ornwallis and tiie 
rest by J\ny|)liausen. Howe's object was to find a weak 
place in the fortified camp at Whitemarsh, or to tempt our 
army, now strongly i-einforced, into a battle for the recov- 
ery of Pliiladolphia; but the ])ublic impression was that 
he had gonc^ out to light Wasliington wluu-ever be found 
bini. The camp fires wore lighted at Chestnut Hill, which, 
soon after, a body of Americans under Irvine* attemi)ted 
to occupy. They were discomfited, however, by 7\ber- 
cromby with the light brigade, and the gencM-al made pris- 
oner. Here the English remained till Ihe 7th; when, 
reluctant to essay W;isliington's I'ight, they moved at one 
A. M. towards his left, and took ])ost on Pldgebill. A 
sharp skirmish was created by Moi'gan, whose Rifles dis- 
puted the ground as long as they could, while to the left 
Grey encountered and easily put to flight a considerable 
party, chiefly of militia. Grey's night-march led him to 
their outjjosts. He formed with the Queen's Rangers on 
his left, the light infantry of the (Juards on his right, and 
his brigade in the centre. The Hessians and Anspach 
Chasseurs, with the field-pieces, were in the van. The 
Americans were out-flanked on either side, and outnui by 
the Guards, who (urned tbeii' flight across the fii-e of the 
centre and left. 'J'liis allair appeal's to have occurred in 
Cheltenham township, Montgomery county. 

On the 8th, Jlowe abandoned all hope of finding a vul- 
nerable place in our lines, and Washington restraining 

* (Juiil. Williiiiii Irvine — referred to in (lie Uow-Chace. 



14S l.U'H OF MA.TOK ANDRE. 

his v>ersonal desire to go forth ami give them the meeting 
they sought, the British turiUHi their faces homewards. 
At four P. A[., Grey aud Cornwallis, whose troops were 
the hist to move, i-etired. At that pi'eoise time Simcoe 
was watehiug the entrauoe of a squad of our dragoons 
into a trap he had ounuingly baited, when Andre galloped 
up with peremptory orders to withdraw. The others 
■wei-e already on the maifh ; and at nine P. M.. to the con- 
fusion and amazement of Philadelphia, the British in- 
gloriously reentered the lines.* As they came down the 
Old York Road, they burned, for some reason, the Bisiug 
Smi biiildings: but, except 700 cattle and the spoils of 
every farm-house that lay in a Hessian's path, there was 
nothing at all to show for all this eli'ort aud parade. Ere 
sailing for England, Coi'nwallis foraged the country be- 
yond Schuylkill towards Chester; routing Pottert as he 
went, and tinding a success veiy grievous to all who had 
anything to lose, and who frxiitlessly claimevi redress 
from head-quarters. Another h\rge foix* went to I)arby 
on the 22ud : and stripping it of one thoiisand tons of for- 
age returneil on the 2Sth with a paiwl of prisoners: of 
whom two offii^ei's aud thirty men had been cunningly be- 
guiled into ambuscade by a couple of the 17th dragoons. 
At seven P. M. on Christmas Eve, the city was enlivened 
by a brisk but imsupported cannonade with twelve-pound- 
ers on the lines between ord and 4th stivets ; aud this was 

* This failm^ is attributed to the conduct of Lydia Darrach, of 

r The ro\ ' ' " " 1 in the same 

'o»\ ht» - them their 

c pdriiiularly oi\lered 
By aid of a friendly 
key'ioie his pn.vautions were frustrated; and the woman herself, 
without boiug sus^nvted. bore the important details to our people, 
vrho were consequently enabled to anticipate every move of the 
enemy. 

tThis must refer to James Potter, Brigadier General of the 
Pennsvlvania militia. 



ANDRK WITH GREY AND HOWE. 149 

its last taste of battle in the year 1777. Tlie troops, on the 
30th and 31st December, went into good wiuter-tjuarters. 
Witli the exception of a transport tliat was swept from 
her moorings by the ice to be stranded and i)lundered on 
the Jersey shore, notliing more occni'red of snlTicient note 
to excite attention. 

Tlie severities of tlie winter of 1777-8 were keenly felt 
by the poor of Philadelphia; and even the better classes, 
no longer able to procure fresh provisions by means of 
the river, which was obstrncted by ice on the 30th of De- 
cember, found additional aggravation in the spirit that 
permitted the Americans to hold their position at Valley 
Forge, and thence to restrain sui>plies from the country 
by severities which at this day seem hardly just. "The 
laws of war," said Rfarshal Conway, "sanction the inflic- 
tion of death on those who furnish food to an enemy only 
when such aids are needful to existence; not when they 
are matters of luxury." The army commissariat was 
always capable of being replenished by the fleet, and there 
was no longer hope or attempt to reduce Howe by starva- 
tion; but the inhabitants were on another footing. They 
remembered, in their hunger, how the officers who entered 
on the 26th of September, with all tiieir civility to the 
people, professed the most bitter d(!tormi nation to pursue 
our army to the last extremity; but their amazement is 
also recorded at the self-confidence of the English and 
their contempt of the Americans, whom they stigmatized 
as "a cowardly and insignificant set of i)eople." There 
were not wanting, even in Congress, men who had heard 
Cope's officers at Preston hold the same terms of the 
Scots, declaring they would never remain to face the 
British bayonet: yet who had seen these veiy boasters 
fly pusillanimously before tlie llighlanders without strik- 
ing a blow. The impulse that at first led to the foi-ma- 
tion of Loyal Associations and Provincial Corps had not 



IMl LIFE OP MAJOR ANDRE. 

beou fostered. Tlio Quakers even were nt one time ex- 
pected by their antagonists to appear in arms. "Thee 
and tliou, in Philadelphia." wrote an American oflicer 
(Oct. (jth, 1777), "now tind a religion will not serve that 
doth not turn weathercock-like. They begin to say to 
each other— 'AVill thee take a gun,— hope thee will appear 
in the tield;' "—but when tlour was at three guineas the 
hundred, and other things in proportion, they rather 
thought of obtaining assistance through Dr. Fothergill, 
from their friends in England, to be repaid at the end of 
the troubk^s, than of fuliilling the predictions of their 
?nemies. Nor was a British army longer to be esteemed 
invincible by rebels. Bnrgoyne's was a case in point. 
On the 3rd of October, imperfect rimiors of the first battle 
at Stillwater tlew from lip to lip. Gates was beaten. A 
letter was in town with a postscript in Irish which told 
how a partial engagement on the ISth of Sei>tember had 
been unfavorable to Burgoyue; but that returning on the 
19th to bury his dead, a general action ensned in which he 
was entirely successful, and was in full march on Albany. 
A man who had been in Albany on the 19th was at once 
arrested; but he of course knew nothing of Sir John's 
advance. His fall was known to "Washington on the 18th 
of October; but Howe's army scouted the story, while 
the citizens believed it. The Frenchman who brought in 
Ponop's wounded officers was qiiestioned ou the possibil- 
ity of such an event. "I know the fact is so." he answer- 
ed, "you must explain it as yon can." Foremost in ca- 
pacity among the local loyalists was Galloway. Sir 
William employed him in mnnicijial ali'airs, but in other 
respects gave him the cold shoulder. Galloway was not 
insensible of the supineness of the campaign, nor. as he 
believed, of the cause. His fi-iends shared in his discon- 
tent, and he has recorded its origin. At Philadcliihia. 
he says, Howe found -1482 fencible inhabitants, of whom 



FIRST BATTLE AT STILLWATER. 151 

about 1,000 were Quakers and i)er]iai).s Miy secret foes. 
An eleventh of the whole population liad fled. A militia 
of 3500 men should have been forthwith organized ; that, 
with the shipping and 1000 regiihirs, eould liave held the 
lines against anything but Washington's main array, 
which Howe might thus be at liberty to attack at Valley 
Forge. Pie should have invited the loyal men of the 
Chesapeake and Delaware peninsula to rise, and supplied 
them with arms and ammunition, and a few regulars. In 
three days he would have had 2000 Tories in the field, who 
would soon increase to GOOO oi- 8000. A covering post 
at Wilmington would put Washington between it and the 
loyalists, should he march against them; while the army 
at Philadelphia would be but one day's distance by water, 
or two by land. He cited tlie fact tliat even with the in- 
sufficient means that were taken to raise men, over 1100 
of the Philadelphians joined the British; but particu- 
larly was he sensitive of the refusal to permit liiin to raise 
a regiment. A warrant foi- a single trooj) was vouch- 
safed him; in two months it was full and efficient. The 
General put aside his services in tlie recruiting line, and 
gave the warrant to "an unpopular country tavern- 
kee])er, for whom he [Howe] thought his servants in the- 
kitchen the most proper company." Fifty gentlemen 
from Monmouth, New Jersey, brouglit their services to 
Sir William, "but the genei-al was inaccessible; they 
could not, after several days' attendance, procure an au- 
dience." Such are the charges Galloway brought for- 
ward; and it is no wonder he found ready listeners. 

Sir William and Lord Howe were the sons of the sec- 
ond Viscount Howe, and were in an illegitimate way 
kinsmen to the King. The late King William spoke of 
Lord Howe as "indeed a sort of connexion of the fam- 
ily." When that coarse, vulgar, vicious little profligate^ 



152 LIFK OK lIA.IOa ANDKE. 

Ooorj^o Louis, tlio first of the liauoverian liuo, came over 
to reign in Kiigland, lie brought among liis Ciennan mis- 
tresses a ^laihnne Kiehnausegge, whose mother had filled 
a iiiiestiouahle i^osition near his own father. Ouee in 
Kngland, she was of course placed on the pension and the 
peerage rolls; and in 1721, while his wife languished out 
her life in a dungeon, CHeorge created her Countess of 
Leinstcr and of Darlington, and Baroness Brentford. 
By the usual means of her otlice, though her appearance 
was far from pleasing, she accumulatctl wealth. Wal- 
pole paints the fright into which his childhood was 
thrown by an interview with this "fat woman of Brent- 
ford." "The fierce, black eyes, large and rolling be- 
neatli two lofty arched eyebrows; two acres of cheeks 
s]nead with crimson, an ocean of neck, that overfiowed and 
was not distinguished front the lower pai-ts of her body, 
and no part restrained by stays,— no wonder that a child 
dreaded such an ogress." The child that she bore to the 
king was, in 171 J), nuu-ried to Lord Howe; and though 
she was never publicly acknowledged as George's daugh- 
ter, her own child was always treated by Princess Amelia, 
daughter of Oeorge II., as of the blood-royal. There 
were whispers also of a relationship of the same nature 
as with the Howes, between George III. and Lord North; 
their resemblance was so great, according to AVraxall, 
as to be pointed out by George's father to Lord Guil- 
ford.— The ill feeling between North and Howe, so natural 
to the royal line, would not belie this tale. 

John Adams asserts that the Howes were poor, brave 
men, who had wasted their estates in election contests and 
had now nothing to sell but their votes and their swords. 
Sir AVillian\ represented Nottingham iu the Commons; 
and the expenses of carrying that town in 17li8 wei^e said 
bv Lord Chesterfield to have been full £o0.000 to the 



CnARACTETl OP Sm Wfrj.TAM TfoWK. ]!S'A 

winner, and not less to the losing candidate. Letteis 
i'l-om London in 1775 avei- that both Howe and Clinton 
went with rehictanoe to America; but they were tohl tlicy 
must do tliis or .staivc. lu I'ailiaiiiciii lu! was in the 
chair of Committee of the Whok; House, on tiu; l^Otli of 
March, 1775, when the Commons considei-ed American af- 
fairs. Prom nine P. M. to one A. M. it was one scene of 
confusion and altercation, <bning which a mem])er called 
on him to |in]>]ish in the ('oh)nics, tliat wliciicvcr (evidence 
in their favor was produced, the prime minister "was 
either fast asleep, and did not hear it; or, if awake, was 
taliving so k)iid as even to prevent others fi-om hearing 
it." As next in command to Gage, he led tiie assault at 
Bunker Hill, where his "disposition was exceeding sol- 
dier-like; in my o])inion, it was perfect," said Hurgoyne. 
Others however discovered in this action his liabitual 
neglect to i)ress fortune to the utmost, when Clinton was 
vainly urging the pursuit of the Amei'icans crowded on a 
narrow causeway. It would sc(!iii tli;il, ministers were 
tlicM ]K'i'pl((xed to find a suitable^ cliicf commander. With 
little show of probability, I'l'ince i^'erdinand was spoken of 
on either side; but this nomination would never have 
suited Germain (who was soon to represent America in 
the cabinet), for it w^ould have bi'ought liiin into direct 
contact with the man by whose means he had been himself 
cashiered for misconduct at Minden. The veteran Am- 
herst was also mentioned; and a contemporary histoi'ian 
alhiges the post was even tendered to the aged Ogle- 
thorpe, who, in 1745, had been refused any command 
whatsoever. The ancient Jacobite however sturdily re- 
fused tlie ap))ointment, unless he were pei'mitted to com- 
ply with American demands; and this the ministry would 
not think of. Accordingly, Dartmouth informed Howe 
on the 2nd of August, 1775, of his prospective position, 
and bade him transmit a full statciinent of (everything that 



1;"l+ I IKE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

ho would nooil to insure success. Yet tlio nature of his 
politics at this time may, perhaps, be fairly deduced from 
an address of his constituency to the throne that was in 
his absence presented by his brother, the Viscount. The 
constitutionality of the steps against ximerica was ques- 
tioned, their expediency denied, and especially was re- 
gretted the presence, in such a service, of their represen- 
tative— "a descendant of that noble family which in every 
walk of glory has etjualled the Koman name." Howe 
himself averred that he accepted the command by desire 
of his friends in opposition; and it is not to be denied 
that, if his conduct in this country was detrimental to the 
triumph of the British arms, it was at least often stamped 
with sterling traits. At Bunker Hill, where he was 
struck by a spent ball, he would have preserved the 
wounded "Warren. He captured Fort "Washington in a 
manner to indicate that he prized the lives of his men. 
He might have made a more dashing attack, but not a 
surer or safer. To his prisoners he was not so consider- 
ate; and the treatment that he suti'ered them to receive 
would alone pollute his fame. Ethan Allen, not back- 
ward himself to inflict scourging or exile where a disputed 
land-title was concerned, lifts up his voice against Sir 
William's commissary of prisoners, a native of Allen's 
own region; and declared that "legions of infernal dev- 
ils, with all their tremendous horrors, were impatiently 
ready to receive Howe and him. with all their detestable 
accomplices, into the most exquisite agonies of the hot- 
test regions of hell-fire." -As for his provost-marshal, 
^lajor Cunningham, ''a burly, ill-natured Irishman, of 
sixty years," humanity shrinks from the recital of his 
cruelties, and almost regrets that it cannot find reason to 
believe that the jiistice of the nation he so long disgraced 
did not provide him a halter. Few worse men have 
dangled from a gibbet. There is satisfaction in the re- 



CHARACTER OF SIR WILLIAM HOWE. 155 

flection that, when the British evacuated New York in 
1783, the insolence of office led him to a quarrel with the 
man who had a little prematurely hoisted the American 
flag; and that he was soundly belabored with a broom- 
stick by an indignant virago. His quarters in Phila- 
delphia were plundered by robbers of his own ranks; 
foremost among whom was a hag named Marsliall, well- 
known on the battle-field as the "bag and hatchet wo- 
man,"— a title that sufficiently indicates her horrid trade. 
Cunningham's prison was in Walnut Street below 6th, 
and the neighboring Potter's Field (now Washington 
Square) received his victims. It was at the time told of 
this human beast, that when charity supplied a vessel of 
broth to his starving captives, he would divert himself 
by kicking it over, and seeing the prisoners fall sprawling 
on the earth, striving to lap up the food with their tongues. 
As for the hulks in which our people were shut up at New 
York, we need not go behind the confession of Sir William 
Napier— "The annals of civilized nations furnish nothing 
more inhuman towards the captives of war than the 
prison-ships of England." The fact seems to be that 
Howe prized his own comfort too highly to disturb him- 
self much about his duties. Charles Lee, who long had 
him in the highest love and reverence, describes him as 
being "naturally good-humored, complaisant, but illiter- 
ate and indolent to the last degree, unless as an executive 
soldier, in which capacity ho is all fire and activity, brave 
and cool as Julius CiEsar." Yet his enemies also as- 
serted that since 1776 he had never met Washington but 
in force really superior; and nineteen occasions were 
cited in which he might have overturned the Americans. 
At Long Island his men wei^e hardly restrained for three 
days from attacking our lines. He lingered in camp, 
when he should have i^assed to New Rochelle and hemmed 
up his foe in New York. At Brandywine, by the most 



156 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

judicious mauanivres, he euolosed Washington between 
his two oolunuis and impassable waters, lie indolently 
sutYored tlie defeated party to renuuu undisturl)ed all 
night within eight miles of the field, and, by five days' 
inaetivity. lost all the fruits of victory. At Germautown, 
it was Musgrave who saved the day; and even then there 
was no general pursuit. Nothing was extenuated, and 
not a little set down in malice. The people were discon- 
tented witli his private life. He appropriated to him- 
self Mrs. Pemberton's coach and horses; he was fond 
of his bottle; he kept a mistress:— even the more dis- 
creet among his own officers were abashed at his luxurious 
habits, and his inaccessibility to atTairs of imimrtance. 
Across the ocean. Burns caught up the story of his sloth- 
ful ease: 

Piv^r Tauuny Giige within a cage 
Was kept at Boston ha', man. 

Till Willie Howe took o"er the knowe 
For Philadelphia, man. 

Wi" swonl ami gun he thought a sin 
Gnivl Christian blood to draw, man: 

But at New- York, wi' knife and fork, 
Sir-loin he hacked sma'. man. 

The Admiral and himself, bitterly remarks a coutem- 
]H->rary. had alike the sullen family gloom: but while 
Lord Howe was devoted to business, his brother hated 
and avoided it. "Their nnifonu character through life 
hivs been, and is to this day, haughty, morose, hard- 
hearted, and infiexible." This aversion to public af- 
faii-s, and the conse^iuent pecuniary disorders that en- 
siled in their management, may j>erhaps give another 
color to the allegation that Sir "William was privately in- 
toi-ested in varioiis transactions by which riches were got 
at the exvxnise of government. He was said to be a seoi'et 
ivirtner with Coftin. a large military shopkeeper who 
attended the army. Certainly the exj^enditui-es of his 



CHARACTER OF SIR Wll.l.IA.M HOWE. 157 

pnm]iaigns were beyond all reasonable bounds. In every 
prolitable branch of the service, wrote AVedderburne, at. 
the time, the peculation was as enormous as indecent. 
Both the troops and the ti-easury were robbed: "the hos- 
l)itals are ])est-houses and the pi'ovisions served out are 
poison. Those that are to be bought are sold at the high- 
est prices of a monopoly." No wonder the most loyal 
Englishman winced at this wanton and fruitless waste 
of taxation, and apostrophized his country, insulted by 
Americans,— 

"Who force thee from thy native riglit 
Because thy heroes will not fight; 
— Perfidious men, who millions gain 
By each protracted, slow campaign!"' 

The French officers in Washington's cam]) were amazed 
at Howe's inactivity. "After Brandywine," said Du 
Portail, "he might have exterminated our army;" and 
his sluggishness while they were at Valley Forge was an 
ineffable blunder. "Had he moved against them in 
force, they could not have held their encampment," says 
Marshall. An opinion was (no doubt falsely) at this time 
attributed to Lafayette, that as any general but Howe 
would have beaten Washington, so any other than Wash- 
ington would have beaten Howe ; and Ministers trembled 
lest Gates should mai'ch from Saratoga and, joining the 
main army, subdue Philadelphia and its garrison. But 
Sir William was already anxious to retire. There was 
ill blood between Germain and himself; and not even the 
King could i)ersuade the Colonial Seci'etary to treat his 
General witli proper confidence. In -July, 1778, he re- 
turned to London, "richer in money than laurels," says 
Walpole. "The only bays he possessed," said another, 
"were those that drew his coach." His reception by the 
cabinet was not encouraging; and he endeavored to cast. 



158 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

the blame of his want of success at its door. In this he 
but partially succeeded. A Parliamentary investigation 
took such a turu that it was dropped on motion of his 
friends. He was not reoniployed in the war; and the 
nation, and even his own constituents of Nottingham, 
seem to have been content to have done with him. 

General Howe is a gallant commander — 
There are others as gallant as he 

was the general conclusion. In 1799 he succeeded to his 
brother's Irish titles; and died childless in 1814. In per- 
son he was tall and portly, full six feet in height, and, to 
Philadelphia eyes, of stately and dignified manners. His 
enforced withdrawal from the field of professional service 
was in some measure compousatod by the social and po- 
litical influence which secured him a lucrative and honor- 
able office imder the crown. 



\. I Sti 



CHAPTER IX. 



The British Army in Philadelphia. — Features of the Occupation. 
— Sir William Erskine. — Abercromby. — Simcoe. — Lord Cath- 
cart. — Tarleton. — Andre's Social Eelations in the City. — Verses 
composed by him. — Amateur Theatricals. — Misconduct of the 
Eoyal Arms. — The Mischianza. — Andre's Account of it. — Howe 
removed from the Command. 




HE year 1778 found the British at Philadelphia 
in snug quarters, unembarrassed by the cares 
of the field and, except for occasional detach- 
ments, free from other military duties than 
the necessary details of garrison life. The trifling affairs 
that occurred during the remainder of the season, 
served rather as a zest to the pleasures which en- 
gaged them, than as a serious occupation. Our army 
lay the while— from the 19th December to the 18th 
June— at Valley Forge, on the west side of the Schuyl- 
Mll. The camp was placed on the rugged hill-side of a 
deep valley, through which flows a creek. On the east 
and south it was fortified with a ditch six feet wide and 
three feet deep, and a mound four feet high that might 
easily be overthrown (said Anburey, an English officer 
who visited the spot), by six-pounders. On the left was 
the Schuylkill, over which a bridge was built by the 
Americans to keep up their communications. On every 
arch was carved a general's name; that in the center 
bore Washington's, and the date of its erection. The 
rear was protected by a jH-ecipice and thick woods. From 
December to May, continues our authority, Howe could 
have readily carried these lines ; at any time in the spring 
he could have besieged them. The sufferings of the men 
were intolerable; they deserted by tens and by fifties; 



IGO LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

ami tlioy often apiu'arod iu Pliiladolphia almost iiaked^ 
without slioos, a tattorod blanket strapped to their waists 
— hilt with their arms. These they were always allowed 
liy the English to sell. It is incredible that, Imwever bad 
his intelligence from the eonntry-peo})le might be, Howe 
could not have found guides among these to lead him to 
our camp. It is known that there were not provisions 
in store to enable Washington to hold out. lie must have 
abandoned his lines or starved; and he had not sufficient 
means to remove his equipage. Sickness pre\ailed; 
eleven hospitals were kept up at one time. None but the 
Virginia trooi)S were provided with anything like enough 
clothing; and, to crown all, Congress was busier with 
schemes to supplant and remove AVashington, than to 
listen to the grievances of his followers and supply their 
just denumds.* It was for us a fortunate though a most 
unwarlike turn that occupied such soldiers as Abercrom- 
by, Tarletou, Musgrave, JSimcoe, and De Laucey with the 
ordering of a ball-room or the silken trappings of the 
stage, rather than the harsh realities of the held. In other 
scenes they proved themselves gallant and dangerous an- 
tagonists. 

The general demeanor of the officers billeted at Phila- 
delphia in private houses is described as very agreeable. 

* (.ieuoral Jviiox and L'aptaiu Sargent, both of the artillery, were 
delogatoil by thou- comrades to represent ' their necessities. The 
committee having heard them, one of its members took occasion 
to remark that mucii had been very well said about the famine and 
the nakedness of the soldiers; yet he had not for a long time seen 
a fatter man than one of the gentlemen wbo had spoken, nor one 
better dressed than the other. Knox, who was of corpulent habit, 
was mute — j>robably with indignation; but his subordinate re- 
joined that this eircumstanee was due to the respect his compan- 
ions bore not only to themselves, but to Congress. The Generars 
rank prescribed his appointment; but, beyond that, the corps 
could not hesitate to select as tlieir representatives the only man 
among tlunu with an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body, and 
the only other who possessed a complete suit of clothes. 



THE BRITISH ARMY IN I'lIILADELPIIIA. 161 

Candles, fire, and a chamber were provided by the house- 
holder. The guest would return of an evening, take his 
candle, and after a little fire-side chat retire to his apart- 
ment. One unfortunate wight indeed, who had been 
wounded in the neck at Cerniantown and who was saddled 
on one of the best families in the town, used to keep the 
neighborhood of 2nd Street and Taylor's Alley aware of 
his existence by the frantic volleys of oaths that he would 
pour out when, as he sat by the open window, every turn 
of his head to watch what went on below would throw 
him into new pains; but such cases were exceptional. 
Several of them too had mistresses; and this, though of- 
fensive to morality, was neither disguised nor kept in the 
dark. Lieutenant-Colonel Birch of the dragoons— a man 
of high fashion at the time— was of these; and Major 
Crewe, whose jealousy of Tarleton was one of the es- 
clandres of the day. "I saw," said a distinguished citi- 
zen, "a grand review of 18,000 British troops, on the 
commons that extended from Bush Hill to South wark. 
They had just received their new clothing, and made a 
fine appearance. A very lovely English girl, the mistress 
of Major Williams, of the artillery, drove slowly down 
the line in her open carriage with handsome English 
horses and servants. Her dress was cut and trimmed 
after the fashion of the regiment's; the facings were the 
same, and the plumes. The woman was singularly beau- 
tiful." 

No sooner were they settled in their winter-ciuartors, 
than the English set on foot scenes of gayety that were 
long remembered, and often with regret, by the younger 
part of the local gentry. Weekly balls, each conducted 
by three officers of repute, were given in the public rooms 
at Smith's City Tavern, in 2nd Street. Convivial asso- 
ciations were formed, to dine at the Bunch of Grapes or 
the Indian Queen. Mains of cocks were fought at a pit 
11 



1(>2 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

that was oponod iu Moore's Alley. As spring came on, 
oriokot-inatches wore discussed. The advertisements in 
the newspapers give many curious hints of the levity of 
manners and morals thai was fast springing up in the 
lately staid and demure city. Thefts were not int'iotiuent; 
wet-nurses were in constant demand; comely white bond- 
women were escaping fi'om servitude. To-day Lord 
liawdon's spaniel is lost near Schuylkill, and is to be 
brought back to Mrs. Swords' in Lodge Alley; to-mor- 
row an exhibition of glowing pictures, or a sale of books 
rather more free than had usually found market there; 
or perchance a lecture on electricity at the college. The 
]iresence of so many young officers, not a few of them 
distinguished by rank or by fortune, lent new life to every 
occasion of amusement. The Marquis of Lindsay, who 
in this year became Duke of Aucaster, was the nephew 
of Andre's old colonel. Lord Kobert Bertie; and Stop- 
ford, his major iu Canada, was also here, a ball-manager. 
Lord William Murray, Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards 
Earl) llarcourt. Sir Henry Calder, Sir Thomas "Wilson, 
and nuuiy other men of rank were with the troops. Here 
too was Sir "William Erskiue, who a year or so later re- 
signed his quartermaster-generalcy, not for ill health, it 
is said, but because the General gave no heed to his recom- 
mendation for an ensigncy. Erskine remained long in 
the service, and many stories are told of him. He pro- 
tected the English rear at the retreat from Dunkirk, and 
in the midst of the confusion, with charming frankness 
and in the broadest Scotch, shouted to his comrade in this 
war. Duudas, as he passed,— "Davie, ye donnert idiot, 
Where's a' your peevioys (pivots) the day?"— Sir David 
being one of those tedious tacticians who could not take 
one step forward without going a dozen about. Erskine 
was not an able officer, as Wellington afterwards found 
out in the Peninsula. There, too, was the Hessian cap- 



LORD CATIICART. 163 

tain, Frederick Miinoliansen, aide to Howe, wliose name 
was so ominously significant of incorrect dispatches; 
and Abercromby, apparently the same who later served 
and died so gallantly in Egypt,* and whose mortification 
when the British arms were finally grounded at York- 
town— hiding his face and gnashing his swoi'd-liilt as he 
turned away— is so picturesquely related by one of Ro- 
charabeau's staff. Of those, however, who seem to have 
been of Andre's more innnediate circle were iSimcoe, the 
famous partisan officer; Captain Battwell; Sir John 
AVrottesley; Captain De Lancey, afterwards his suc- 
cessor in the adjutant-generalcy; Major Stanley (father 
of the late Earl of Derby) ; and Major Lord Cathcart. 
This last was of an ancient Scotch family long dis- 
tinguished in arms, who rose to command in chief befoi'e 
Copenhagen in 1807 ; he was created an English Viscount 
and Earl, and died so lately as 1843.t 

*This is an ervdr. There were three brothers Abercromby in 
the Britisli Army iit the time, but ilie most distinguished, Kalph, 
who was killed at the battle of Aboukir, and whose reply about the 
soldier's blanket which pillowed him when dying, is historic, was 
in sympathy with the Americans and hence was not employed 
against them. The one referred to was his brother Kobert, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of the S^th Kegimcnt. The third brother, James, 
had been killed at the battle of Brooklyn. 

t Cathcart married in America (April 10, ITTO) the daughter of 
Andrew Kliot, once collector at Philadelpbia and uncle of the Tirst 
Lord j\[into, better known as author of the beautiful pastoral of 
Amyntas — ''My sheep 1 neglected, I brolce my sheep-hook,'" — tlian 
by his title. Mr. A. Eliot was one of the commissioners to procure 
Andi'c's release. A 21S. letter of the time thus pleasantly de- 
scribes the nuptials: "We live, it is true, for a little while, when 
Beauty strikes the strings at General Pattison's concerts: but this 
is only on the first day of a week that sickens before it is concluded. 
. . . .•Vn't you tired of moralizing? I'll tell you news: Tjoi'd 
Cathcart — 

"Poll, I heard it before!" 

'■However, you just beard that he was married to Miss Eliot, 
but the story here is that he took liimself in merely to pass the 
time away in winter-quarters; and because Miss E. was a lively. 



164 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Another young officer at Philadelphia, whose part in 
the war was not unnoted, was Banastre Tarletou. Born 
at Liverpool, the son of an eminent merchant, he forsook, 
like Andre, the counting-room for the army, and when 
the contest began obtained a cornetcy of dragoons. Sir 
W. Erskine was his first patron; afterwards Clinton and 
Cornwallis prized and promoted him. Well but heavily 
made, with large muscular legs, a good soldier's face, 
dark comi)lexion, small, piercing, black eyes, about five 
feet eight inches in height, and a capital horseman, he 
was the very model of a partisan leader. At this time 
he was about twenty-one, and though Howe did not em- 
ploy cavalry much, was always vigorous and active; 
"when not riding races with Major Gwynne on the com- 

pretty girl, he made Tiolent love to her, wrote letters, &c. &c. Miss 
E. listened and believed — 'For who could think such tender looks 
were meant but to deceive?' Whether his Lordship flew oi? after- 
wards, I know not: but Mr. E. laid the letters and the whole affair 
before Sir Henry. Sir H. advised Cathcart to marry: Cathcart 
wished to be excused till the end of the war: and the General in- 
formed him that after having gone so far, he must marry Miss E., 
or quit his family. A fine girl, a good fortune, to a Scotch Lord 
with a moderate one, were not to be despised. You know the 
Peers of Scotland, having no legislative privileges, are not of that 
consequence that the Lords of England or even those of Ireland 
are. And so his Lordship married Miss Eliot, and they will soon 
sail for England, it is said." — Lady Cathcart appears to have had 
a place at court, and Peter Pindar celebrates her at Weymouth, in 
connection with the king's insensate manners : — 

"Cassar spies Lady Cathcart with a book; 
He flies to know what 'tis — he longs to look. 
' What's in your hand, my lady? let me know.' — 
' A book, an't please your majesty.' — ' Oho! 
Book's a good thing — good thing — I like a book. 
Very good thing, my lady — let me look — 
War of America! my lady, ha?? 
Bad thing, my lady! fling, fling that away.'" 

A sister of Cathcart's married Sir Thomas Graham, afterwards 
Lord Lynedoch, a distinguished cavalry officer; another was 
Duchess of Athol, and a third Countess of Mansfield. 



TARLETOJST. 165 

mons, making love to the ladies." In England he had 
been guilty of some excesses; and a whimsical speech 
from the box of a theater about one of his own kindred 
was quoted as an evidence of his "flow of spirits and un- 
restrained tongue." At the Mischianza his equipage be- 
spoke the man. His device was a light dragoon; his 
motto, Swift, vigilant, and fcoZrf,— and his squire's name 
was Heart. On his return he was elected to Parliament 
by his native place, and was one of the most distinguished 
among the Whig circles; now jesting at Fox's swollen 
legs, now taking the odds from Sheridan that Pitt will not 
be First Lord of the Treasury on the 18th of May, 1795. 
Despite his distinguished services he was coldly received 
by George III., who less regarded how his soldiers fought 
than how they voted.* An ill-advised boast, in the pres- 
ence of a lady of influence, that he had not only slain more 
men in America, but had more nearly approached the 
feats of Proculus in Gaul than any other soldier in the 
royal army, so incensed his hearer that she detei'mined 
he should lose his seat at the next election,— and she 
carried her point. Tarleton's reputation for cool but 
reckless daring attended him in England. "When a mob 
threatened Devonshire House, he quietly threw up a win- 
dow and said,— "My good fellows, if you grow riotous, 
I shall really be obliged to talk to you." They imme- 
diately dispersed. In 1798 he married a daughter of the 
Duke of Ancaster, and in 1817 was a major-general, but 
not on active service. He always maintained, till the 
event falsified his judgment, that Wellington would fail 
in Portugal. On the coronation of George IV. he was 
made a Baronet and K. B. His fortunes do not seem to 

* Tarleton, it is said, has been honored with a private confer- 
ence, in which his Majesty took no other notice of his services than 
just to say — "Well, Colonel Tarleton, you have been in a great 
many actions, had a great many escapes." — MS. London, Feb. 6, 
178?. 



166 LIFE OF MAJOK ANDRE. 

have been eoutimially prosperous;— ou the oth of Sep- 
tember. 1798, he writes from Sussex: "1 have thought 
proper to proceed to Lord R. Silencer's friendly man- 
sion, for two purimses: to read, and to subsist for 
nothing— being very, very poor." The portrait by Sir 
Joshua Reynohis represents him in a martial attitude on 
the battle-fiekl. His own figure is finely drawn; but the 
horses are outrageously in defiance of nature, and fully 
warranted the contemporaneous criticism that was be- 
stowed upon the production: — 

"Lo! Tarleton dragging on his boot so tight! 
His liovsos iVel a godlike rage. 
And long with Yankees to engage — 
I think I hoar them snortins: for the fl<rht.. 

Behold with fire eaeh eyeball glowing! 

I wish, indeed, their manes so flowing 
AVerc more like hair — the brutes had been as good 

If, flaming with snch classic force, 

They had resembled less that horse 
Caird Trojan — and by Greeks composed of wood." 

Tarleton's ravages in America have made his name a 
household word in many regions; but an exception may 
be cited to his general reputation, in Jet¥ersou's testi- 
mony to the care he gave to the hitter's house of Monti- 
eello when it was in his power. 

It was natural that the presence of such a gay and bril- 
liant throng should create an impression on Philadelphia 
society that long remained unetTaced. and which in after- 
years induced many, particularly of the softer sex. to 
look back with real regret to the pleasant days, the festive 
nights that prevailed during the British occupation. One 
of these in recording her own sentiments probably ut- 
tered the thoughts of manv more : 



Andre's soctat, ret,ations in Philadelphia. 167 

Oh Iialcyon days, forever dear, 
When all was frolic, all was gay: 
When Winter did like Spring appear, 
And January fair as May! 
When laughing Sol went gailv down, 
Still brighter in the morn to rise : 
And gently glancing on the town 
0^'er British ensigns moved his eyes. 
When all confessed the gallant youth 
Had learned in camps the art to please- 
KesjK'ctful, witty, friends to truth. 
Uniting valour, grace, and ease! 

But of all the band, no one seems to have created such a 
pleasing impression or to have been so long admiringlv 
remembered as Andre. His name in onr own davs lin- 
gered on the hps of every aged woman whose youth had 
seen her a belle in the royal lines; and though" the remi- 
niscences of a bygone generation are not implicitly to be 
relied on, there is reason to believe that in this instance 
they are in the main correct. He is described as of five 
teet nme inches in height, and of a singularlv handsome 
person,-well-made, slender, gracefnl, and verv active- 
a dark complexion, with a serious and somewhat tender 
expression; his manners easy and insinuating. He was 
an assured favorite with some of the best people in the 
city and despite their indignation at Grev's behavior at 
the Paoh. This Andre warmly upheld, as in entire con- 
tormity with the usages of war; and they who disagreed 
with these assertions still cherished the aide-de-camp 
who vindicated the deeds he had shared in, as "a most 
charming man. ' ' If the serious business of life was a part 
of his ot, there was yet ample scope for the exercise of 
those elegant arts in which he excelled. His infirmities 
If any there were, sprang, like Charles Townshend's' 
trom a noble cause-that lust of fame which is "the in- 
stinct of all great souls;" and his comely person, his 



168 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

winning speech, his gracelul manners, procured liini uni- 
viTsal acceptance: 

W h:iU''rr Uv diil 'twus done willi so iiuu'h case, 
111 liiiu iiloiio 't was natural to please: 
His motions all aeeonipanietl with fjraco; 

Ami |iarailise was ojtened in his I'aee. 

^^ arm I'ricndsliips s])run,ii' \ip lu>t\v(H>n many of the offi- 
cers and the towns-people; and among- those in which 
Andre was concerned, was that witli tlic family of Ed- 
ward iSliippen. which was destined to hear such an im- 
]iortant part in liis career. Tn rank, character, and for- 
tnne i\rr. Shiiijien was among tlic first men of his time. 
That he was, to say the k>ast, hiUewarni in tlie war has 
often heen cliarged. Certainly lie was constantly fined 
for neglect of militia duty, in seasons when every zealous 
AVhig might have heen looked for in arms; hut after all 
was over, he was wortliily digiiitiod hy the highest ]u-o- 
fessional offices in the state, and at the hands of men wlio 
liad heen the most consyucuous supporters of the Kevo- 
lution.* AVith INliss Redman. Andre was also intimate; 
the huttons playfully severed from their coats by Stan- 
ley and hin\st'lf. and presented to her as jiarting-keep- 
sakes when they left Philadelphia, are yet preserved, as 
also are a number of silhouettes of himself and various 
of his friends, cut by him for this lad^'. For her, too, he 
wrote, on the Lliid of January, 1778, these pretty vers de 
socictv, to a (iernian air that he had iierhaps composed 
or picked up in his wanderings:— 

Return, enraptur'd hours, 
AVhen Delia's heart was niiiie; 
^Vhen she with wreaths of ilowcrs 
Jly teini)les would entwine. 

* Fines of £() and of £13 are aflixcd to his name on various occa- 
sions in the returns of Capt. Pasehal's eonipanv, V'nd battalion. 
See Accts. Lieuts. and Sub-Lieuts. Philadelphia City: 1777-1783. 



AMATEUR THEATRICAT-S. 1 G9 

Wlicn jealousy nor caru 
Corroded in my breast — ■ 

But visions light as air 

Presided o'er my rest. 

Now, nightly round my l)ed 
No airy visions play; 
No tlow'rets crown my head 
Each vernal holiday. 

For far from these sad ])lains 
My lovely Delia flies; 
And rack'd with jealous pains 
Her wretched lover dies. 

Some may fiud allusion in these lines to the writer's affair 
with Miss Sneyd. Tliere is no evidence tliat his heart was 
bound by new ties wliile in this country; and his freedom 
from tlie g-i-osser passions of his follows was especially 
observed. It was likewise noticed, as an instance of his 
courtesy, that neither while a prisoner at Lancaster, or in 
power as Grey's aide, did he ever join in the contemptu- 
ous language so often apjiliod to the Americans. He 
did not speak even of those in arms as rebels ; colonists 
was the gentler phrase by which he referred to them. 

During all the war, the favorite amusement of the 
British army was amateur theatricals. Wherever it 
found itself in quarters, at once a dramatic corjis s]irung 
up. In 1775-6, when beleaguered in Boston, Burgoyue 
and his fellows fitted up a playhouse (in an abandoned 
meeting-house, it is said) ; the roof of which, according 
to an English writer, was destroyed by American shells, 
and the wardrobe and curtain much injured. Here the 
officers gave Tamerlane, The Busybody, and the like. 
It opened with Zara, to which Sir John wrote an a])i)Osite 
prologue; and the bills were sent to Washington and 
Hancock. It might well have closed with another of Bur- 
goyne's bantlings— T/ie Blockade of Boston; the per- 
formance of which was disagreeably interrupted by prac- 



17l) MI'-K OK JIAJOK ANDRE. 

tionl skirmishings on tlio outiH>sts. In 1779-80 the oap- 
tivos of Saratoga, dotaiuod at I'liarlottosvillo, erooted a 
theater for tiiemselves. At Phihuielphia, the royal offi- 
cers were more fortunate in liiuiiug one standing to tiieir 
hand. On the south side of South Street (to be out of the 
bounds of tiie I'ity, the reguhitions of which were ojiposed 
to tlie stage), near 4tli. was a hirge, ugly, ill-eouditioned 
wooden building, the third publie ])layliouse that had 
been opened in or about Philadelphia. It was built in 
17liO. and was long disused. The scenes of war outshone 
the mimic ]iageantries of the sock and buskin; and one 
at least of the old company. Francis ^leutges, a dancer, 
was now an otlicer of some repute in our army.* The 
hoiise was not a good one. The great sipiare wooden col- 
umns, that supported the upper tier and the roof, in- 
terrupted the view from tlie boxes; the stage was lighted 
by plain lamps without glasses; everything betokened 
ill-taste and dilapidation. But any theatre was better 
than none; and it was without hesitation decided to make 
the most of this shabby barn. The stage-box on the east 
side was probably that occujned by Howe; it was after- 
wai-ds appropriated to AVashiugtou, who himself was par- 
tial to the drauui. and during his Presidency made a point 
of attending the representations of T]ie Poor Soldier. 
Above the entrance was the Pabelaisiau motto— Totus 
mimdus agit histrioucm; which the tyros translated, 
""We act Mondays. "Wednesdays, and Fridays." The 
military auuiteurs were slow to verify this rendering in 
the frequency of their performances. Having resolved 
on their jilan. Andre and Oliver De Lancey— "a lusty, fat, 
ruddy-looking young fellow between 'JO and 30 years of 
age," went to work to prepare the needful scenery and 
decorations. Andre's readiness with the brush has al- 

* Montges was successively in the rennsvlvauin Musket Bat- 
talion, the 11th and Tth Peuu. ami tiually Lieutenant-Colonel of 
*he 5th Penn. He retired from the armv in 1TS3. 



AMATEUR THKATRICALS. 171 

ready been declared. On this occasion he produced ef- 
fects that might have stood beside the scenic labors of 
Hogarth, De IxMitlierhourg, oi- Staiislicid liiiiiscH'. Ills 
foliage was unconimoiily spirited and graceful. Tlic two 
amateurs made several very useful and attractive addi- 
tions to the old stock scenery; one of which, from 
Andre's brush, demands, says Durang, a j^articular 
record : 

"It was a landscape presenting a distant champagne 
country, and a winding rivulet extending fi'om the front 
of the picture to the extreme distance. In the foreground 
and center a gentle cascade (the water exquisitely exe- 
cuted) was overshadowed by a group of majestic forest- 
trees. The pers])ectivo was excellently preserved; the 
foliage, verdure, and general colouring was artistically 

toned and glazed It was a drop-scene, and hung al>()ut 

the middle of the third entrance, as called in stage-direc- 
tions. The name of Andre was inscribed in large black 
letters on the back of it, thus placed no doul)t by his own 
hand on its completion; — sometimes a custom with scenic 
artists."* 

* Fuw persons of taste who have ever seen this drop will licsitate 
to confirm its praises. The "Old South," as the Uieatre came to 
be known, sank from the hour when playhouses nii,<,dit lawfully 
exist within the city limits. It became at last the resort of tiie 
most depraved of both sexes, and the witness of their infamies. 
In 1821, it was burned down; and despite every effort to save the 
scenery, particularly the drop painted by Andre, its contents were- 
consumed. Some ])art of the walls yet stand. For years pre- 
viously thron^rs of the vulgar had crowded the house every Fourth 
of July, to witness a piece well suited to their tastes and under- 
standings, and founded on his fate. 

There is still preserved at Philadelphia a figure of a British 
grenadier, cut out of half-inch board, six feet high, with rounded 
edges, and painted to the life, which tradition says was made by 
Andre. If so, it was probably a stage decoration. It got into 
American hands, and was used in practical joke to heartily frightea 
some of our officers. 



1(_ LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

On the 24th of December, 1777, matters were sufficiently 
advanced for tlic nndortakors (o determine on tlie piece 
tliey should iirst appear in, and to advertise for an ac- 
countant or sub-treasurer, a swifl and clear writer for 
the distribution of the parts, and for practiced scene- 
shifters and carjienters. The play first resolved on was 
perhaps The ]Vo)idcr. It was advertised for as "wanted 
immediately for the use of the theater, to borrow or buy," 
on tlie ."-ird January; but if there was any one ])oint on 
whii'li tlie Presbyterian and Quaker agreed, it was in 
aversion to theatres, and the piece was not soon forth- 
coming. Accordingly, on the 14th January, for the bene- 
fit of the widows and orphans of tlie army, were given the 
comedies of No One's Eiientif but ]tii> Oini, and The Deuce 
is in Him. The characters were represented by officers 
of the army and navy; the doors opened at 6 P. M., and 
the play began at 7 ; the tickets were a dollar for box or 
jiit, and half a dollar for the gallery. Xo money was to 
be taken at the door, nor were more tickets sold than the 
house would hold. I have had the fortune to stumble 
upon a collection of s]iecimens of all these theatrical bills, 
tickets, notices, tS;c., with an indorsement of the number 
struck off of each, that had been preserved by James 
Hum]ihreys, the printer, together with all hand-bills of 
proclamations and the like issued during the Occupation. 
From these may be deduced some ideii of what the house 
held. Of notices of perfo nuance, 1,000 copies would be 
]n'inted; and G60 box-tickets. And so popular did the 
entertainment soon become, that the doors were opened 
ere sunset, and they who wished places kept for them had 
to send their servants to the house at 4 P. ^I. 

The first performance was eminently successful. De- 
S]nte the legislative prohibition of public theatricals, 
anmteur I'epresentations were in great vogue with the 
more refined and cultivated classes in various parts of 



AMATEUR THKATIUCALS. 173 

America. In staid (.\)nneeti('nt, the late venerable Bishop 
Grisvvold at the early age of seven shone as a page in 
Fair Rosamond in 1773, and in 1781, was great as Zanga 
in The Revenge. In Pennsylvania, particularly among 
the churchmen and moderate dissenters, a like taste i)re- 
vailed; and though the jMayhouse could only be reached 
on foot, by miry and unlighted paths (for there were no 
hackney-coaches in those days, and very few private 
coaches), the ladies did not shrink to trip thither and back 
home after nightfall. The house was opened for the sea- 
son and the play introduced by the following prologue, 
which there is much i-eason for attributing to Andre, 
both in composition and delivery: — 

TROLOGUE. 

Once inoi'e, ambitious of theatric slmT, 

Howe's strolling company appears before ye. 

O'er hills and dales and bogs, thro' wind and weather 

And many hair-breadth 'scape, we've scrambled hither. 

For we, true vagrants of the Thespian race, 

Whilst summer lasts ne'er know a settled place. 

An.xious to prove the merit of our band, 

A chosen squadron wanders thro' the laud. 

How beats each Yankie bosom at our drum — 

— 'Hark, Jonathan! zaunds, here's the strollers come!' 

Spruced up with top-knots and their Sunday dress, 

With eager looks the maidens round us press. 

— 'Jemima, see — an't this a charming sight — 

Look, Tabitha— Oh Lord! I wish 'twas night!' 

AVing'd with variety our moments fly. 

Each minute tinctur'd with a dilTerent dye. 

Balls we have plenty, and al Fresco too, 

Such as Soho or King-street never knew. 

Did you but see sometimes how we're arrayed, 

You'd fancy we design'd a masquerade. 

'T would tire your jiatience was t to relate hero 

Our routs, drums, hurricanes, and Fetes Champelres. 

Let Kanelagh still boast her ample dome; 

AVhile heaven 's our canopy, the earth 's our room. 

Still let Vauxhall her marshall'd lamps display. 

And gild her shades with artificial day: 



174 LIFK OK MAJOH ANDRE. 

In lol'ly Icriiis old v;iiiiitiiifr SiuUer's Wells 
Of licr tii:lil-ro]i(' and Inddcr-daiifinij tells. 
Hut Ciinninuiiani in luitli liy far excels. 

Now winter* Hark! and I must not say No — 

'Rut soft, a word or two before I go.' 

Benevolence first nrjxed us to engage, 

And boldly ventured on a public stage: 

To guard the helpless or])han's tender years, 

'J'o wipe away the afllirled jiarent's tears. 

To soolb the sorrows of the widow'd breast, 

To lull the friendless bosom's cares to rest; 

'J'his our design — and sure in such a cause 

E'en Error's self might challenge some applause. 

With candor then our imperfections scan. 

And where (he Actor fails, absolve the ifan. 

The sncooss of tlio lirst night was really beyond expec- 
tation, and a notice was issued begging gentlemen not to 
bribe the door-keepers: "The Foreign (lentlemau who 
slipped a Cninea and a half into the hands of the box- 
keeper, and forced his way into the house, is requested to 
send to the office of the theater in Front-street, that it 
may be returned." Such advertisements do not occur 
nowadays. The performances during the rest of the sea- 
son were as follows: On the 26th January, The Minor, 
and 77a! Deuce is in Him; on the 9th February, The 
Minor, and Dnle and No Duke; on tlie 16th, Constant 
Couple, and Duke anil No Duke. The illness of a chief 
actor and other causes prevented any more plays till 
]\rarch 2nd, when The Constant Couple and The Mock 
Doctor were given; on the 0th. The Inconstant and The 
Mock Doctor, with a display of iireworks; on the 16th, 
Tiic Inconstant and Lethe; on the 25th, The First Part 
of Kin(j Ilcnri/ IV.. and 'The Mock Doctor; on the 30th, 
The First Part, &c., and Lctlie. Then one of the actresses 
fell sick; Passion AVeek came on; and nothing was 
played before The Wonder and The Mock Doctor, on the 

* Staso-bell rings. 



MISCONDUCT OF THE ROYAL ARMS. 175 

24tli April The Liar and A Trip to Scotland were 

for on the 2nd ; on the 6th were represented The Liar, 
and Duke and No Duke; and on the 19th, Dr. Home's play 
of Douglas, and the Citizen. This was the last perform- 
ance. When the curtain fell, the officers resorted to a 
sort ot a club-room that was established in the large 
apartments of the City Tavern, where their weekly baUs 
were held ; and here Charles Lee was introduced in March 
inti atter witnessing the evening's play. The bills o-ive 
no distribution of parts, and we cannot tell what charac- 
ters came to Andre's share; but we may well believe that 
m Doiiglas he appeared as the young hero whose feigned 
conditions so much resembled his own : 

Obscure aiul friendless, he the army sought 
llesolved to hunt for fame, and wilh Ins sword 
lo yam distinction which his birtli denied, 
in this attempt, unknown he inio-Jit have perish'd 
And gam d with ail his valor but oblivion 
Now graced by thee, his virtue serves no more 
Beneath despair. The soldier now of hope ' 
He stands conspicuous; fame and great renown 
Are brought witliin tlie compass of his sword. 

And in another passage of the same play, we find lan- 
guage that indeed expresses what seems to have been the 
key-note of Andre's character. "Living or dead, let me 
but be renown 'd," appears truly to have been the unal- 
tered wish of his soul. 

Without going into too many particulars, there is 
abundant testimony that gambling, races, plays, and gal- 
lantries occupied more of the attention of the royal offi- 
cers, durmg this winter, than was at all consistent with 
the good of the service. 

The military feats about Philadelphia, in the earlier 
part of 1778, were neither numerous or important. 
Howe aimed at little more than keeping a passage clear 



17() Llt'l-: OK MAJOR ANUHE. 

for the ('onntvy-poo)ilo, witliin oortain bounds, to come in 
with itKukc'liiig. The iiK-iilont kuowii as tlie Battle 
of till' Kogs was celebrated by Hopkinsoii in a very amus- 
ing- song that, wedded to tlie air of Maggy Lauder, was 
long the favorite of the American military vocalists; 
Imt it hardly seems to have been noticed at Philadelphia, 
imtil the "Whig version came in. The local newspapers 
suy that, in .Innnary, 177S. a barrel floating down the 
IVlaware lieing taken ui> by some boys exploded in their 
hands, and killed or maimed one of them. A few days 
after, some of the tnuisports lirod a few gnus at several 
other kegs that ai)poareil on the tide; but no particular 
notice of the occurrence was taken. These torjjcdoes 
were sent down in the hope that they would damage the 
shipping. The Queen's Rangers and other troops were 
constantly employed in ]iatrols and forages, but, beyond 
bringing in Americans whom they caught stopping and 
stripping the market-people, there was little to be done. 
Howe, too, set on foot several loyal corps of the vicinity 
that ]n'oved very useful. Tlovenden. with his Philadel- 
phia Light Dragoons and some of Tiiomas's Bucks 
(.\iunty Volunteers, made a foray on the 14th of Febru- 
ary, and brought in a number of prisoners. On the next 
day 400 Americans came within (lOO yards of one of the 
jnckcts. "and after making a terrible howling," and ex- 
changing fires, retii'ed, leaving three dead. On the 18th, 
Hovenden and Thomas passed up to Jeuk's fulling-mill 
in Bucks, and thence to Newton, surprising the Ameri- 
cans ]iosted there to intercept market-people, and bring- 
ing thirty-four pi'isoners as well as two coach-loads of 
things from Galloway's country-seat. This was doubt- 
less a prinu^ object of the move; and it is thus we can 
account for the loss of invaluable papers (particularly 
Franklin's) respecting our history, that were left in Gal- 
loway's hands. On the l!;%rd. Hovenden went thirtv miles 



MISCONDUCT OF THE ROYAT. ARMS. 177 

ii}) the Rldjipaok Koad, and returned on tlie 24th, witli VSO 
fine cattle and some prisoners. He reported the Ameri- 
cans as excessively severe on market-peoiile, and that La- 
cey had burned the mills about the city to the infinite 
misery of the town-folk; to whose poor, salted Ijeef was 
now publicly distributed. Some of the Amei-icans had 
great reputation as market-stoppers ; these, when caught, 
were decorated with their spoils— eggs, women's shoes 
and the like — and so pai'aded through the streets to jail; 
or were publicly wliii)ped in the market-place, and 
drummed out of town.* Simcoe very much applauds the 
skill with which a loyalist, pretending to be an American 
commissary, turned a fat drove of Washington's cattle 
into British beef. Such little stratagems, however, were 
usually crowned by our peojile with a halter. Tn these 
patrollings the two antagonists occasionally came in con- 
tact. On the 20th of March a large party of American 
horse were encountered beyond Schuylkill by the mounted 
Jiigeis, and defeated with loss. On another occasion, 
during the occupation, Generals Cadwalader and Reed 
with one follower riding and reconnoitring through the 
country, had stopped at the house of a (^)uaker to whom 

* On Saturday last, a rcl)Gl li>;lii-horseiiiaii, loaded with several 
wallets across liis slioulders, and a large basket on his arm, full 
of market-truck, of which he had robbed the country people com- 
ing to market, was brought in, having been taken a few miles from 
the lines at the very time he was plundering. The drollery of his 
appearance afforded no little amusement to the populace. — Penn. 
Ledger, Apr. '2'i, 1778. Galloway says that it was usual to give 200 
lashes to the market-people caught coming to town; or to send 
them in to Howe, with G. H. branded on their flesh with a hot 
iron; and tlie local journals of March, 1778, tell of several per- 
sons, taken on their way to buy provisions, being court-martialled 
at AVilmington and sentenced, some to be hung, others to be 
flogged. They got off with being tied to the gallows and thus 
receiving 250 to 500 lashes from "wired cats that cut large jiieces 
from (hem at every stroke." Some enlisted witli the Americans to 
avoid i)unishment, and then deserted. ,So, at least, says the Ledqer, 
No. 1.53. 



178 LIFE OF M.V.IOK ANDRE. 

tlioy wore kuowti. Passing on, aud being canght in a 
rain, tlioy luul tuinod the blue oartoiiclie cloaks tlioy wore 
so that the rod lining ^Yas oxposed to tho showor, aud 
were hastily galloping back to camp when, as they re- 
passed the Quaker's house, he came rushing out to them, 
"dontlonion, gontlomou!" he criod, mistaking thoir scar- 
let lor Uritish uniform, "if you will ouly turu back you 
will certainly catch General Reed and General Cadw^ala- 
der, who have just gone down that road !" His confusion 
at discovering his blunder may bo guessed; and it after- 
wards camo near to hang him when Rood was in power. 
For piloting Abercromliy on llio 1st of May, when Lacey's 
post at the Crooked Billet was broken up, John Roberts 
actually was hung, after Whig supremacy was established 
at riiilailelphia. 

The ojiening of tho cainiKiign of 177S found the British 
councils at London in great perplexity. Howe's I'ecall 
was a settled thing; but it was yet unknown whether the 
A mericans would listen to the new commissioners sent to 
them, or ally themselves with France. Lord Amherst, a 
great authority with the King, advised that in tho latter 
contingency the royal armies should be withdrawn from 
the continent to the "West Indies; aud in any event, that 
a retreat from Philadelphia to New York should at once 
be made. Meanwhile, Sir ^Villiam was looking about for 
an Oldening to cover his retirement with an active lustre; 
stimulated, perhaps, thereto by the friendly satire of his 
subordinates, one of whom (afterwards General Mead- 
ows, then the lieutenant-colonel of the 55th. Howe's own 
regiment) bluntly reproached his commander's slothful 
devotion to pleasure, and asked him if he did not think it 
was now time to get out of his bed and to get on his horse. 
On the 1st of April, the army was ordered to bo ready, 
with throe days' inovisiou and at a moment's warning, 
for an enterprise on tlie 5tli. But no large movement was 



OPENING OF TUE CAMPAIGN OF 1778. 179 

made. A detacliniont of 1400, indeed, by a night-march 
relieved liilliiiyvsport, where our peoi)Ie were besiej^ing 
some refugees; and, on the 24th and the 2Gtli, parties (one 
led by De Lancey) went forth successfully against bodies 
of Americans. Transports wei-e now fast coining in with 
forage from New York, and troops and stores from Cork; 
on the 7th of May, Clinton was at Billingsport; and on 
the 8th lie arrived at Philadelphia. On the 10th, an expedi- 
tion sent on the 7th to Bordentown to burn the American 
frigates and stores there returned, having succeeded per- 
fectly. On the night of Ai)ril 30th, Abercromby led a 
party of light troojis, with which were some of James's 
and Ilovenden's loyalists, against Lacey near the Croohed 
Billet. By the British account, Lacey resisted at fii-st, 
but was forced to fly, and was pursued four miles. His 
loss was 80 to 100 killed, and fifty taken; besides ten 
wagons of baggage and stores. His huts, and what 
equipage could not be brought off were burned. 

No longer relying on militia, in whatever strength, to 
fulfil the ends required of a stout outlying force between 
himself and the enemy, Washington on the 18th of May 
ordered La Fayette, with five guns and 2500 of the flower 
of the army, to pass over the Valley Forge bridge, and 
take post in his front. The Marquis accordingly placed 
liimself at Barren Hill, on this side of the Schuylkill, and 
about midway between the two armies. But the Quaker 
with whom he quartered himself is said to have promptly 
communicated the ciiYMinistance to Howe. The news 
reached Phihideli.liia that La l^^ayette's "tattered retinue 
had abandoned their mudholes" and were advancing 
towards Germantown. An attack was instantly con* 
certed. There were plenty of men in Howe's ranks who 
knew every inch of the ground; some of the loyalist 
troopers were residents of the place itself, and were the 
best of guides. So inevitable appeared success that Sir 



180 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

William, ere setting forth, invited ladies to meet La Fay- 
ette at supper on his return; while Lord Howe, wlio went 
along as a volunteer, prepared a frigate for the innncdiate 
transmission to England of the expected captive. In a 
war like this, where public opinion was so powerful, the 
effect of such an event would have been prodigious. It 
is pleasing to reflect, not only that the design failed, but 
that its failure was due to an officer who held American 
soldiership in the extreme of contempt, and whose whole 
American history, whether before or during the war, is 
a tissue of arrogance and shortcomings. 

"I was jjresent at this move," says Sir Henry Clinton; 
"it was made before I took the command. As Sir W. 
Howe was there, I gave no opinion about the plan or exe- 
cution."* To an unprofessional man, there seems to be 
room for but one opinion about either. The plan was 
admirable; the execution imperfect. With 5,000 men, 
Grant marched on the evening of the 19th by the Delaware 
Eoad to a sufficient distance; when, turning to the left by 
Whitemarsh, he was at sunrise a mile in La Fayette's 
rear, and between him and the Valley Forge bridge. At 
a later hour. Grey (and of course Andre) brought up 2,- 
000 men by a more direct road on the south side of the 
Schuylkill, and established himself at a ford two or three 
miles in front of La Fayette's right flank. A force was 
also stationed at Chestnut Hill. Thus the Americans 
were so environed, that in no direction could they march 
without encountering an enemy, unless they could repass 
the river; and there was but one ford (Matson's) now 
available for this purpose, which was even nearer to 
Grant's position than their own. 

Howe had, by a wonder, ordered matters so cleverly 
that not the least whisper of his intentions reached our 

♦Clinton MS. 



HOWe's movement against la FAYETTE. L81 

people beforehand. It was ou a play-night that the expe- 
dition set forth, and most of the officers were witnessing 
Douglas when the troops were getting under arms or 
actually in motion. But so large a force could not leave 
town without the knowledge of Washington's faithful 
intelligencers; and by the time they reached their po- 
sitions, the fact was known in our camp. Grant's ad- 
vance was, at sunrise, halted at a spot where the road 
forked; one course leading to Barren Hill, another to 
Matson's Ford. For an hour and a half his column 
stood at ease; the men unfatigued, but chagrined and 
angry, the General in doubt what line to pursue. He 
was vainly urged to take possession of Matson's Ford; 
but thinking, probably, that his situation would enable 
him either to attack La Fayette by the one road, whether 
he moved on it or remained at Barren Hill, or to inter- 
cept him by the other if he tried for the ford, he re- 
mained idle. Nevertheless, the British advance was now 
no secret. Simcoe, who led Grant's column at the pre- 
scribed pace of two miles an hour, had just after dawn 
encountered a patrol that retired before him ; two officers, 
who had made an early start from Barren Hill to Jersey, 
hastened back with tidings of the enemy's approach; and 
an American on the road, seeing them on their way, had 
hastened across the country to give warning. From Val- 
ley Forge also alarm-gun after alarm-gun now pealed 
forth. The post was withdrawn from this side of the 
bridge ; preparations for its destruction were made ; and 
it was even alleged that Washington almost looked for- 
ward to retreating, with all he could carry, towards the 
Susquehanna. 

La Fayette proved himself adequate to the occasion. 
In a moment, as it were, his dangers were revealed, and 
the one possible means of extrication resorted to. Dispo- 
sitions were made in the church-yard as though to receive 



182 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Grey; Iiis artillery, by a well-directed fire, encouraged the 
idea tlmt lie ]nirposed to onajage. Ilis real aim was of 
course ilight, aud by the ford; but to attain it, ho must 
pass withiu a short distance of Grant, wlu) was nearer to 
it than liimsoU'. By feigned movements as though for an 
attack, and an occasional display of the heads of columns, 
he for a time persuaded the Knglislimau that an action 
was imminent. Meantime his troojts, as fast as they 
conid come up, were hurrying across the ford, till at last 
the artillery only and a body of Oneida savages remained 
on this side of the stream. These were also now brought 
over, and on the high gronnds beyoud our men were se- 
cure. Grant at last came up, and ordered tiie advance to 
move on; but too late. They saw but a i)arty of our 
troops dotting the surface of the water, like the floats of 
a seine. The prey had escai>ed. Grant was hopelessly 
in their rear; and when (Jrey's cohmm closed in, there 
was nothing between tlie British lines. The only skir- 
mishing even that seems to have occurred was between a 
body of light-horse and the Oneidas. Neither had ever 
encountered a like foe; and when the cavalry unexiiectedly 
rode anunig the savages, the whooping aud scampering 
of the one, and the flashing swords. and curveting steeds 
of the other party, excited such a common terror that 
both tied with the utmost precipitation. Irritated and 
empty-handed Howe marched back to town, with no one 
but his own officers to blame for his ill-success.* On the 
i!4th of May, he surrendered the command to Clinton, and 
arrived in England ou the 2nd of July. One of the last 

*It will no doubt have struck whoever roads tliis. that La- 
Fayette escaped exactly by the same means tlie garrison of Fort 
Lee had done: with this dilTerence, that Lord Cornwallis had not 
been informed of the situation of Newbridge, and Sir William 
Erskine repeatedly entreated General Grant to march directly 
to Matson's Ford. Had he done so. not a man of Lafayette's 
corps would have escaped. — Clinton MS. 



THE MISCHIANZA. 183 

acts of his antliority was to ordain a lottery, on tlie 15th 
of May, directed by substantial citizens, to raise £1,000 
for tlie poor of the city. 

Whatever may have been his shortcomings to Minis- 
ters, it is certain that Howe was beloved by his troops. 
He was ever carefnl of them in battle, and in quarters his 
own indulgences were shared by them. Dissipation, 
gambling, relaxation of discipline, may have indeed taint- 
ed the army; but they knew their leader to be personally 
brave and eaiiable in the field; and by his very errors 
their own comfort was increased. It was therefore re- 
solved, by a nmnber of those most conspicuous in the pur- 
suit of pleasure and attachment to the General, to com- 
memorate their esteem for him by an entertaimnent not 
less novel than splendid. This was the famous Mischi- 
anza of the 18th of Maj', 1778; the various nature of 
which is expressed by its name, while its conception is 
evidently taken from Lord Derby's fete champetre at 
The Oaks, June 9th, 1774, on the occasion of Lord Stan- 
ley's marriage to the Duke of Hamilton's daughter. 
Burgoyne was the conductor of this elegant affair, witk 
its masques, fireworks, dancing, &c. ; and for it he wrote; 
his play,— The Maid of the Oaks. The regatta, or aquat- 
ic procession, in the Mischianza was suggested by a like 
pageant on the Thames, June 23rd, 1775. Each of these 
festivities— the first of the kind in England— had been, 
much talked of and admired at the time. 

Both in the plan and execution of this affair, Andre's 
near alliance with head-quarters led him to be much con- 
cerned. His brush as well as his taste was engaged in 
the decorations, nor was his pen idle. A mock tourna- 
ment— perhajis the fii'st in America— was a part of the 
play; and for this he selected as esquire his brother 
William Lewis Andre, now a lieutenant in the 7th. The 



184 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

appointed scene was at the countrj^-seat of Mr. Wharton : 
then a fine stately mansion, surrounded with large trees 
m\d its grounds extending uninterruptedly to the Dela- 
Avare; now pent about with factory buildings and houses, 
and occu]iied as a public school.* Here Sir Henry Cal- 
der was lodged, whose name is subscribed to the invita- 
tions. It was not a bad season for one branch of the 
festivity ; remarkably fine green turtle, just arrived from 
New Providence, and choice Claret and Madeira wines, 
were then in market and doubtless contributed to the cold 
collation that crowned the whole. Much of the decora- 
tions, as the Sienna marble, &c., was on canvas, in the 
maimer of stage scenery. The supper-room was built 
however for the occasion, and at every toast given in it a 
flourish of music was answered with three cheers. The 
mirrors, lustres, &c., which adorned the scene wei-e bor- 
rowed, says Watson, from the town-folk, and all were 
returned uninjured, with tlie ornaments that had been 
added still appended. Nothing in short more disastrous 
than the loss of a silver watch, for which a guinea reward, 
"and no questions asked," was ollered, seems to have 

* Tlio proprietor of this estate is deseribed as a man of no little 
social importance. He was usually styled Dulr by reason of his 
manners. When Sir William Draper was at Philadelphia, Mr. 
AYliarton, in visiting him, entered hat in hand. Sir William con- 
desoendinglv bade him be covered: he would dispense with those 
marks of "respect, he said, which he knew, it was ungrateful to 
Friends to render. The visitor, however, coolly replied tliat he 
had uncovered for his own comfort, the day being warm, and that 
whenever he found it convenient he should certainly resume his 
hat. He was utterly outgeneralled though during the occupa- 
tion by a private soldier. The man had laid aside his musket to 
trespass on Mr. Wharton's grounds. The owner, possessing him- 
self of it, by threats of carrying it to the guard-house compelled 
the man toluimiliate himself thoroughly by way of jienance; but 
no sooner was his piece returned than he fell on the Quaker, and 
by menaces of wounds and death made him pass under the Cau- 
dine Forks in the most comprehensive sense of the term. 



ANDKE'S ACCOUNT OF THE MISCIIIANZA. 185 

occurred The young Jadies of Philadelphia present 
numbered about fifty; the remainder b ing n a ed 
-nen. The mtended wife of Captain Montr-esor wis 
he eader of one rank, while the second was headed by 
t^ future br.de of another officer.* The ,ueen of the 
Muschianza however, is said to have been a lady who in 
descnbmg .t afterwards, represented Andre as "the 

TZ u/'' 77T' '''- ^^-^«- ^-' the costume: 
of the ladies of the Burning Mountain, and the Blended 
Rose, are still preserved. The latter was a Polonaise, 
or flowing robe of white silk, with a spangled pink sash 
and spangled shoes and stockings; a veil spangled and 
trimmed with silver lace, and a towering head-dross of 
pearls and jewels. The former had their white Polonaises 
bound with black, and sashes of the same. The wharves 
and house-tops towards the water were thronged with 
spectators as the boats, filled with these gaily dressed 
nymphs and not less brightly clad gallants, passed from 
«.e northern part of the city to the scene of pleasure. 
But Andre himself has given a full account of the whole 
proceeding. 

* One of David Franks' daughters was married to Captain (af- 

erwards General) Oliver De Lancey; and another to Colon 1 

(afterward. General Sir Henry) Johnson of the 28th, who w"i 

urpnsed by \Vayne at Stony Point, and whom Cornwailis in Ir ! 

hr"id n n" f'-*^"'! ^V^'^'- "Johnson- '-although a wrong- 

considered as the Saracen of the South." His wife was celebrated 

the Americans, soniedmes found a J5ritish subjee . It was she 

banVfr ",:•/'''■ "•/'''■"^-,,-1-n he called on a baTroom 
band for Britons si nice /wmfi/"— "Britons go home, you mean " 
she cned.-And see Littell's Graydon, 4G9 ^ ' 

I<ac-similes of Andr6's drawings of costumes, &c., and of a 
Mischianza ticket, are in Smith and Watson; 1847. 



isg life of major andrk. 

Andre to a Friend. 

Philadelphia, May 23, 1778. 

For the first time in my life I write to you with unwill- 
ingness. The sliip that carries home Sir AVilliam Ilowe 
will convey this letter to you, ami not even the pleasure of 
conversing with my friend can secure me from the general 
dejection I see around mo, or remove the share I nuist 
take in the universal regret and disappointment which his 
approaching departure hath spread tln-oughout the whole 
army. We see him taken from us at a time when we most 
stantl in need of so skilful and popular a commander; 
when the experience of three years, and the knowledge he 
hath acquired of the country and people, have added to the 
confidence we always placed in his conduct and ahilities. 
You know he was always a favourite with the military; 
hut the affection and attachment which all ranks of offi- 
cers in this army bear him, can only be known by those 
who have at this time seen them in their effects. I do 
not liolieve there is upon record an instance of a Com- 
mander-in-Chief having so universally endeared himself 
to those under his command ; or of one who received such 
signal and flattering proofs of their love. That our sen- 
timents might be the more universally and uneiiuivocally 
known, it was resolved amongst us, that we should give 
him as splendid an entertainment as the shortness of the 
time, and our present situation, would allow us. For the 
expenses, the whole army would have most chearfully 
contributed; but it was requisite to draw the line some- 
where, and twenty-two field-officers joined in a subscrip- 
tion adeciuate to the plan they meant to adoi)t. I know 
your curiosity will be raised on this occasion; I shall 
therefore give you as particular an account of our Mischi- 
anza as I have been able to collect. From the name you 
will perceive that it was made uji of a variety of enter- 



akdre's account of the mischiaxza. 187 

tainments. Four of the gentlemen subscribers were ap- 
pointed managers— Sir John Wi^ottesley, Col. U'Hara, 
Major Gardiner, and Montresor, the chief engineer. On 
the tickets of admission, which they gave out for Monday 
the 18th, was engraved, in a shield, a view of the sea, with 
the setting sun, and on a wreath, the words Luceo Dince- 
dens, aucto splendore resurgam. At top was the Gener- 
al's crest, with vive! vale! All round the shield ran a 
vignette, and various military trophies tilled up the 
ground. 

A grand regatta liegan the entertainment. It consisted 
of three divisions. In the first was the Ferret galley, 
having on board several General-Officers, and a number 
of Ladies. In the centre, was the Hussar galley with Sir 
William and Lord Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, the Officers 
of their suite, and some Ladies. The Cornwallis galley 
brought up the rear, having on board General Knyp- 
hausen and his suite, three British Generals, and a party 
of Ladies. On each quarter of these gallies, and forming 
their divisions, were five flat boats, lined with green cloth, 
and filled with Ladies and Gentlemen. In front of the 
whole were three flat boats, wdth a band of music in each. 
Six barges rowed about each flank, to keep off the swarm 
of boats that covei'ed the river from side to side. The 
gallies were dressed out in a variety of colours and 
streamers, and in each flat boat was displayed the flag of 
its own division. In the stream opposite the centre of the 
city, the Fanny armed ship, magnificently decorated, was 
placed at anchor, and at some distance ahead lay his 
Majesty's ship Roebuck, with the Admiral's flag hoisted 
at the foretop-mast-head. The transport ships, extend- 
ing in a line the whole length of the town, appeared with 
colours flying, and crowded with spectators, as were also 
the openings of the several wharfs on shore, exhibiting 



188 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDBK, 

the most picturesque aud euliveuing scene the eye could 
desire. The roiulozvous was at Kuight's "Wiiarf, at the 
northern extremity of the citj'. 13y half after four, the 
whole company were embarked, and the signal being made 
by the Vigilant' s manning ship, the three divisions rowed 
slowly down, preserving thoir projier intervals, and keep- 
ing time to the music that led the tleet. Arrived between 
the Fanny and the Market Wliarf, a signal was made 
from one of the boats ahead, and the whole lay upon their 
oars, while the music played God save the King, and three 
cheers given from the vessels were returned from the mul- 
titude on shore. By this time, the flood-tide became too 
rapid for the gallies to advance; they were therefore 
qiiitted, aud the company disposed of in the different 
barges. This alteration broke in upon the order of pro- 
cession, but it was necessary to give sufficient time for 
displaying the entertainments that were prepared on 
shore. 

The landiug-]ilace was at the Old Fort, a little to the 
southward of the town, fronting the building prepared 
for the reception of the company about four hundred 
yards from the water by a gentle ascent. As soon as the 
General's barge was seen to push for the shore, a salute 
of seventeen guns was fired from the Boehitck, and, after 
some interval, by the same number from the Vigilant. 
The com]iaiiy, as they disembarked, arranged themselves 
in a line of procession, and advanced through an avenue 
formed by two files of grenadiers, and a line of light- 
horse supporting each file. This avenue led to a square 
lawn of two hundred and fifty yards on each side, lined 
with troops, aud properly prepared for the exhibition of 
a tilt and tournament, according to the customs and ordi- 
nances of ancient chivalry. We proceeded through the 
<'entre of the square. The music, consisting of all the 



Andre's account of the misciiianza. 189' 

bands of the army, moved in front. The Managers, with 
favours of white and blue ribbands in their breasts, fol- 
lowed next in order. The General, Admiral, and the rest 
of the company, succeeded promiscuously. 

In front appeared the building, bounding the view- 
through a vista formed by two triumphal arches, erected 
at proper intervals in a line with the landing-place. Two 
pavilions, with rows of benches rising one above the 
other, and serving as the wings of the first triumphal 
arch, received the Ladies; while the Gentlemen ranged 
themselves in convenient order on each side. On the 
front seat of each pavilion were placed seven of the prin- 
cipal young Ladies of the country, dressed in Turkish 
habits, and wearing in their turbans the favours with 
which they meant to reward the several Knights who were 
to contend in their honour. These arrangements were 
scarce made when the sound of trumpets was heard at a 
distance ; and a band of Knights, dressed in ancient hab- 
its of white and red silk, and mounted on grey horses 
richly caparisoned in trappings of the same colours, en- 
tered the lists, attended by their Esquires on foot, in suit- 
able apparel, in the following order : 

Four trumpeters, properly habited, their trumpets dec- 
orated with small pendent banners. A herald in his 
robes of ceremony; on his tunic was the device of his 
band, two roses intertwined, with the Motto, We droop 
when separated. 

Lord Cathcart, superbly mounted on a managed horse, 
appeai"ed as chief of these Knights ; two young black 
slaves, with sashes and drawers of blue and white silk, 
wearing large silver clasps round their necks and arms, 
their breasts and shoulders bare, held his stirrups. On 
his right hand walked Capt. Hazard, and on his left Capt. 



lilO LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Brownlow, his two Esquires, the one beai'ing his lance, 
tho otlior Ills sliiold. 

His device was Ciii^id riding on a Lion; the blotto, 
Sunuouutfd hii Lore. Ilis Lordshiji ai>iiearod in honour 
of Miss Auohnuity. 

Then oamo in order the Knights of his l)and, each at- 
tended by his Squire bearing his lance and sliield. 

1st. Knight, Hon. Capt. Cathcart, in honour ot Miss N. 
"White.— Squire, Capt. Peters.— Device, a heart and 
sword; Motto, Love lutd Ilouoiir. 

2nd. Knight, Lieut. Bygrove, in honour of Miss Craig. 
—Squire, Lieut. Nichols.— Device, Cupid tracing a Circle; 
Motto. Without End. 

3rd. Knight, Capt. Andre, in honour of Miss P. Chew.— 
Squire, Lieut. Andre.— Device, two Game-cocks fighting; 
Motto, No Riral. 

4th. Knight, Capt. Horneck, in honour of Miss X. Red- 
man.— Squire. Lieut. Talbot. — Device, a burning Heart; 
Motto, Abseiuc cmuiot exti)i(juish. 

otli. Knight. Capt. Matthews, in honour of Miss Bond. 
—Squire. Lieut. Hamilton.- De^nce, a winged Heart; 
i\Iotto, Each Fair bi/ Turn. 

6th. Knight, liieut. Sloper, in honour of Miss M. Ship- 
pen.— Squire. Lieut. Brown.— Device, a Heart and 
Sword: Motto. Uouour and tJie Fair. 

After they had made the circuit of the square and sa- 
luted the Ladies as they passed before the pavilions, they 
ranged themselves in a line with that in which were the 
Ladies of their Device; and their Herald (Mr. Beau- 
mont), advancing into the centre of the square, after a 
flourish of trumpets proclaimed the following challenge.- 



Andre's account of the mischianza. 191 

"The Knights of the Blended Rose, by me their Her- 
ald, proclaim and assert that the Ladies of the Blended 
Rose excel in wit, beauty, and every accomplishment, 
those of the ivhole World; and, should any Knight or 
Knights be so hardy as to dispute or deny it, they are 
ready to enter the lists with them, and maintain tlieir as- 
sertions by deeds of arms, according to the laws of an- 
cient chivalry. ' ' 

At the third repetition of the challenge the sound of 
trumpets was heard from the opposite side of the square; 
and another Herald, with four Trumpeters, di'essed in 
black and orange, galloped into the lists. He was met by 
the Herald of the Blended Rose, and after a short parley 
they both advanced in front of the pavilions, when the 
Black Herald (Lieut. Moore) ordered his trumpets to 
sound, and then proclaimed defiance to the challenge in 
the following words: 

"The Knights of the Burning Mountain present them- 
selves here, not to contest by words, but to disprove by 
deeds, the vain-glorious assertions of the Knights of the 
Blended Rose, and enter these lists to maintain, that the 
Ladies of the Burning Mountain are not excelled in 
beauty, virtue, or accomplishments, by any in the uni- 
verse." 

He then returned to the part of the barrier through 
which he had entered, and shortly after the Black Knights, 
attended by their Squires, rode into the lists in the follow- 
ing order. 

Four Trumpeters preceding the Herald, on whose 
tunic was represented a mountain, sending forth flames.— 
Motto, I burn for ever. 

Captain Watson, of the guards, as Chief, dressed in a 
magnificent suit of black and orange silk, and mounted on 



192 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

a black managed horse, with trappings of the same colour 
with his own dress, appeared in honour of Miss Franks. 
Ho was attended in the same manner with Lord Cathcart. 
Capt. Scot bore his lance, and Lieut. Lyttelton his shield. 
The Device, a Heart, with a Wreath of Flowers ; Motto, 
Love and Glory. 

1st. Kniglit, Lieut. Underwood, in honour of Miss S. 
Shippen. — Stjuire, Ensign Haverkam.— Device, a Peli- 
can feeding her young; Motto, For those I Love. 

'2nd. Knight, Lieut. Winyard, in honour of Miss P. 
Shippen.— Squire, Capt. Boscawen.— Device, a Bay -leaf ; 
Motto, Unchangeable. 

3rd. Knight. Ijieut. Deleval, in honour of IMiss B. Bond. 
—Squire, Capt. Thorne.— Device, a Heart, aimed at by 
several arrows, and struck by one; Motto, One only 
pierces me. 

4th. Knight, ^Monsieur Montluissant, (Lieut, of the Hes- 
sian Chasseurs,) in honour of Miss B. Redman.— S(iuire, 
Capt. Campbell.— Device, a Sunflower turning towards 
the Sun; Motto, Je vise a vous. 

5th. Knight, Lieut. Hobbart, in honour of Miss S. 
Chew.— Squire, Lieut. Briscoe.— Device, Cupid piercing 
a Coat of ^lail with his Arrow; Motto, Proof to all but 
Love. 

6th. Knight. Brigade-Major Tarlton, in honour of Miss 
"\V. Smith.— Squire, Capt. Heart.— Device, a Light Dra- 
goon; Motto, Swift, vigilant, and bold. 

After they had rode round the lists, and made their 
obeisance to the Ladies, they drew up fronting the "White 
Knights ; and the Chief of these having thrown down his 
gavmtlet, the Chief of the Black Kniglits directed his Es- 
quire to take it up. The Knights then received their 



ANDKE's ACCOUNT OP THE MISCHIANZA. 193 

lances from their Esquires, fixed tlieir shields on their 
left arms, and making- a general salute to each otl^e bv 

to take then career, and, encountering in full Dillon 
shivered then- spears. In the second ami th d en uS 

ugh' 'wittr-'^' *'"/• ''''''''■ '^ '^^ f-^-t^ "y 

lougnt with their swords. At length iha twn rn- / 
spurring forward into the centre en^ged ^^^c^t 
single combat, till the Marshal of Ve Fie d (m"'" 

the Fair Damsels of the Blended Rose and Burning 
Mountain were perfectly satisfied with the proofs of love' 

Kni^^s-lnd '^^'^ ^'.!f'^^^"' ''^'^ 'y ^'-- -iecSS 
avou t 'of t? ^.'Tr f ^^ *^^-' -« they prized the future 

delis f,ol ?";/'"'"?*^^' "^'^* ''^'y ^«"ld instantly 
desist fiom fur her combat. Obedience being paid by 

bandf^Tl ;.;%"■'? '^''' ^''^'^ their ^reipectivl 
to tt left tl pf Y'f-^'.' '""'^ '''"'' ^"^^^'^^ts filed otf 
to the left, the Black Knights to the right; and after 
passing each other at the lower side of the q in"" 

the Ladies, when they gave a general salute. 

A passage being now opened between the two pavilions 
the Knights, preceded by their Squires and the bands of 
music rode through the first triumphal arch, and a- 
ranged themselves to the right and left. This arch was 
elected m honour of Lord Howe. It presented two 
f^^nts, m the Tuscan order; the pediment was adornid 
with various naval trophies, and at the top was the figure 
of Neptune, with a trident in his right hand. In a fich 
on each side stood a Sailor, with a drawn cutlass. Three 
Plumes of Feathers were placed on the summit of each 
wing, and m the entablature was this inscription: Laus 
Uk debetur et a me gratia major. The interval between 
the two arches was an avenue three hundred feet Ion- 



11' I I. IKK UK MA.IOU AN'DUK. 

illltl tliirlv rmir liioiid. II w.is lined on (•;ich side willi a 
lilt' of liodiis; iind tlic coliiiii-s dl' iili llic ;niiiy, |>I;iiiI(mI :it 
liropcr (list)iiic('s, had n liciiiitirul crfccl in dixcrsil'viiij? 
the scene. r>et\veen lliese ctdoiirs tlie Kni^hls and 
S(|nii-es look llicir slalions. The Hands ('(intinued to 
play soviTjil pieces of niarlial ninsic. Tiie Conipaiiy 
moved forward in pioccssion, witii tiie Ladies in tho 
'rurkisli lialiits in front; as tli(>se ]>assed, tiiey were sa- 
luted liy tlicir Kni^ids, who then disuionnted and joined 
tliein; and in (his order we wer(> all conducled into a 
;;ardcn that froided tlie house, llironi;ii the second tri- 
nnipiial arch, dedicaled to the (Jenei'al. Tins arcii was 
also Imill in llie Tuscan order. On the intei'ioi' part of 
the pediment was painted a I'lunie of Feathers, and va- 
rious military trophies. At top stood (he tiguiv of Fame, 
and in the entahlature this deviee,— /, hone, ([uo virtus 
litti te vocet; 1 pedc fousto. On the ri,<;h( hand jiiUar was 
|>laced a l)i>nil> shell, and on tlie left a llaminu.' heart. Tho 
front nc\( tlu> luuise was ailoiaied with ])repara(ions for a 
tire work. l''ron\ thi* garden we ascemUnl a tlijiht of 
steps, eoviMvd with carpets, which led inti> a spacious 
hall; the panels, jiainted in imitation oi' Sienna marhle, 
enclosing' fi'stoons of whiti' marhle: the surhase. and all 
lielow. was hlack. In this hall, and in the adjoinins; 
apartments, were i)repared tea, lemonade, and other eool- 
inu liipiors, to which the company seated themselves; 
vlnrinj;- which time the Kniiihis came in, and on (ho knoo 
nx'oiveil their f.noui's fron\ tlu-ir respective Ladies. One 
v>f those rooms was aftorwards apin-opriatod for tho use 
vd' tho IMiaraoh tahlo: as you entered it, you saw, on n 
\>anuel over (ho chimney, a Conmcoina, oxnborautly tilled 
with (lowers of tho richest oolours; luor tho door, as you 
\von( out, another presented itself, shrunk, reversed, and 
emptied. 

From those apartmeuls wo were conducted up to a hall- 



ANDIIK'h account ()!'• 'IHK MISCIIIANZA. 195 

room, decorated in ;i lif^lit,, (jloj^nnt slilc of piiiiitin^. 'I'lio 
f'-|-oini(l w;is ;i |»;il(! Iiliic, paiiiii'lli'd willi a small ^^old head, 
and in IIk; interior filled vvilli dro|i|)inK I'dHlooiiH of now(!rH 
in l.licir natural colourK. iiclow 1,li(! HurhaHo tlio j^round 
was of ros(!-|)ink, wiUi (Jra|)(!ry CoHtoonod in hliK!. 'I'Iioho 
deforationH wctn; luMf^lilciicd ))y (!i;j^lit.y five iniri'onrH, 
dwl<(!d witli ros(!-pinl( wilk rililiand.s, and arl.ilii'ial (low(!rH; 
and in IJic iniciiricdial(! Hpacew wero tliirty-i'onr luanclics 
with wax-lif(lits, ornamented In a similar manner. 

On tlio Harno floor wam lour druwing-r'ooniH, wiili Huie- 
boards of rcifrcshrnonls, dcjcoralc!*! and llf,diied in ilio 
same Btlle and innUi as i\\<: hall room. 'I'lie liall was 
opened by tlu; Knif^liis and tlieii- La<lies; and the dane,(!S 
eonllnned nniil ten o'eloek, vvluin tli(! windows were 
tiirown open, and a rna^^nificent houfjuet of roekels h(!gan 
the fireworks. Th(!se wctre pianntfd hy Capt. Montnisor, 
the Chief Kn^'iuccr, and eonsisted of twenty different ex- 
filltltlons, displayed Mn<ler his direeilon with tin- happiest 
8Uce(;HS, arjd in the highest, stile of lieanty. Towards the 
conclusion, the interior part fif tli(! tr'inmphal areh was 
illuminated amidst an unint-i-rrupl-eil flif<ht rif ro<'ketH and 
bursting of baloons. The milit,ary trophies on eaeli side 
assumed a variety of transjianjnt eolours. 'I"he shell 
and (lamirif^' heart, on the wings Htmt forth Chinese foun- 
tains, suee(!eded hy fireworks. Kam<! app(;ar(!d at top, 
KpangUid with stars, and fr<jm her trumpet Ijlowing tlie 
following device in letters of light, Tns Lauriers sont 
immortel.s.—A sauleur of Rockets, bursting from the ped- 
iment, eiineliidcd the fcji, d'ailifici',. 

At twelve, suppei- was announeed, aii<l large folding 
doors, hitherto artfully cone(;al(!d, heing suddenly tlirown 
open, discovered a magnificent saloon of two hundred and 
ten feet by forty, and twenty-two in helglit, with three 
alcoves on eaeh side, whieh served for side hoar'ds. 'I"he 



196 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

ceiling was the segment of a circlo, and the sides were 
painted of a light straw-colour, with vine-leaves and fes- 
toon-flowers, some in a bright, some in a darkish green. 
Fifty-six large pier glasses, ornamented with green silk 
artilicial llowcrs and ribbands; a hundred branches with 
three lights in each, trinnned in the same manner as the 
mirronrs; eighteen lustres, each with twenty-four lights, 
susjiended from the ceiling, and ornamented as the 
branches; three hundred wax-tapers, disposed along the 
sup])er tables; four hundred and thirty covers; twelve 
lunulred ilishes; twenty four black slaves, in oriental 
dresses, with silver collars and bracelets, ranged in two 
lines and bending to the ground as the General and Ad- 
miral ai>i>roa('lied the saloon: all these, forming together 
the most brilliant assemblage of gay objects, and appear- 
ing at once as we entered by an easy ascent, exhibited a 
coup d'oeil beyond descrii>ti(m magnificent. 

Towards the end of supper, the Herald of the Blended 
Hose, in his habit of ceremony, attended by his trmni)e- 
ters, entered the saloon, and proclaimed the King's 
health, the Queen and Koyal Family, the Army and Na\y, 
with their respective Commanders, the Knights and their 
Ladies, the Ladies in general; each of these toasts was 
followed by a tiourish of nuisic. After supper we re- 
turned to the ball-rinnn, and confined to dance till four 
o'clock. 

Such, my dear friend, is the description, though a very 
faint one, of the most splendid entertainment, I believe, 
ever given by an army to their General. But what must 
be most grateful to Sir W. Howe is the spirit and motives 
from which it was given. He goes from this place to- 
morrow ; but. as I understanil he means to stay a day or 
two with his brother on board the Euc/le at Billingsport, 



VERSES COMPOSED BY ANDRE. 197 

I shall not seal this letter till I see him depart from Phila- 
delphia. 

Sunday, 24tli. I am just returned from condurtini? our 
beloved General to the water-side, and have seen him re- 
ceive a more flattering testimony of the love and attach- 
ment of his army, than all the pomp and splendor of the 
Miscliianza could convey to him. I liave seen the most 
gallant of our officers, and those whom I least suspected 
of giving such instances of their affection, shed tears 
while they bid him farewel. The gallant and affectionate 
General of the Hessians, Knyphauseu, was so moved, that 
he could not finish a compliment he began to pay him in 
his own name, and that of his Officers who attended him. 
Sir Henry Clinton attended him to the wharf, where Lord 
Howe received him into his barge, and they are both gone 
down to Billingsport. On my return, I saw nothing but 
dejected countenances. 

Adieu, &e.* 

I have no hesitation in attributing to Andre two forms 
of a poetical address, designed to be spoken on the occa- 
sion in honor of Howe, but which Sir William, however 
gratified, wisely forbade. The first seems intended for 
recitation by a celestial guest : 

Down from the starry threshold of Jove's court 
A messenger I come, to grace your sport; 
And at your feet th' immortal wreath I lay, 
From chiefs of old renown, who bid me say. 
Like you, they once aspir'd to please the fair, 
With all the sportive images of war. 

* This letter is printed from the Gentleman's Magazine, August. 
1778, collated with the version of the Lady's Magazine, 1793. It 
may have been addressed to Mr. Ewer; but more jjrobably to 
Miss Seward, to whose literary connection both with Andre and 
the Ladi/s Magazine I am inclined to attribute the insertion of 
various scraps of military intelligence from America, some of 
which bear marks of sources of information not always open. 



198 LIFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

IJouiul Arthur's l)()iinl, wlic^n chivalry \v;is youn;;. 

In j\itits and tilts their manly nerves they strunj^': 

Scornin<; to waste the intervals of peace 

In sordid riot, or inj^lorious ease. 

Martial and bold their exercises were; 

Though Gothic, grand; though festive, yet severe: 

Design'd to fire tlie hreast to deeds of worth 

And call th' impatient soul to glory forth. 

Thus train'd to virtue, when the trumpet's sound, 

And red cross streaming, led to holy ground; 

Or violated rights, and Freedom's call, 

Bade them chastise the perlidy of Gaul; 

Each lover, mindful of his plighted vow 

A hero rose, inllam'd with patriot glow. 

The cause of beauty his peculiar care; 

His motto still — "The brave deserve the fair." 

Air, in Arta.rcr.rcs. 

"The soldier, tir'd of war's alarms, 
l-lxults to feast on beauty's charms, 

And drops the spear and shield: 
But if the brazen trumpet sound 
He burns with conquest to be crown'd. 

And dares again the field." 

Oh ! be th' example copied in each heart ; 
Let modern Britons act the ancient part; 
And you, great Sir, these parting rites receive 
Which, bath'd in tears, your hardy veterans give; 
A^eterans approv'd, who never knew to yield 
When Howe and Glory led them to the field. 
To other scenes your counti'y's sapred cause 
Now calls you hence, the champion of her laws. 
Your Veterans, to your brave successor true, 
By honouring him, will seek to honour yon. 

And ye, bright nymphs, who grace this hallow'd ground 
In all the blooming pride of beauty crown'd. 
Still strive to sooth the hero's generous toils, 
Witli what he deems his best reward, your smiles. 

The otlior, a little less flatteriug iu toue. is aocompaiiU'd 
by stagc-directious. It contains also a provident compli- 
ment to the rising sun: 



VERSES COMPOSED BY ANDRE. 199 

ADDRESS 
In'tended to have been spoken at the Mischianza, by a 

HERALD holding IN HIS HAND A LAUEEL-WBEATH WITH THE 
FOLLOWING inscription: 

Mars, conquest-plmn'd, the Cyprian Queen disarms; 
And Victors, vanquish'd, yield to Beauty's Charms, 

Affer hanging the Wreath on the Front of the Pavilion, he was to 
have proceeded thus: 

Here tlien the laurel, here the palm we yield, 

And all the trophies of the tilted field; 

Here Whites and Blacks* witli blended homage pay 

To each Device the honours of the day. 

Hard were the task, and impious to decide 

Where all are fairest, which the fairer side. 

Enough for us, if by such sports we strove 

To grace this feast of military love; 

And, joining in the wish of every heart, 

Honour'd the friend and leader ere we part. 

When great in arms our brave forefathers rose. 

And loos'd the British Lion on his foes; 

When the fall'n Gauls, then perjur'd too and base, 

The faithless fathers of a faithless race, 

First to attack, tho' still the first to yield. 

Shrunk from their rage on Poictiers laurel'd field; 

Oft, while grim War suspended his alarms. 

The gallant bands, with mimic deeds of anns, 

Thus to some favourite chief the feast decreed. 

And deek"d the tilting Knight, th' encountering steed: 

In manly sports that serv'd but to inspire 

Contempt of death, and feed the martial fire, 

The lists beheld them celebrate his name 

Who led their steps to victory and fame. 

Thro' every rank the martial ardor ran; 

All fear'd the chieftain, but all lov'd the man: 

And, fired with the soul of this bright day, 

Pay'd to a Salishury what to Hoive we pay. 

Shame to the envious slave that dares bemoan 

Their sons degenerate, or their spirit flown; — 

Let maddening Faction drive this guilty land, 

With her worst foes to form th' unnatural band: 

In yon, brave crowd, old British courage glows 

* The Knighis so distinguished. 



200 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Unconquer'd, growing as the danger grows. 

With hearts as bold as e'er their fathers bore 

Tlieir country they'll avenge, her fame restore. 

IJouz'd to the charge, methinks I hear them cry, 

Eevenge and glory sparkling from each eye, — 

"Chain'd to our arms while Howe the battle led. 

Still rouiul these files her wings shall Conquest spread. 

Lov'd tho' he goes, the spirit still remains 

That with him bore us o'er these trembling plains. 

On Hudson's banks* the sure presage we read 

Of other triumphs to our arms decreed : 

Nor fear but equal honours shall repay 

Each hardy deed whore Clinton leads the wav!" 

It need not be thought however, that honors such as 
TJome might ha^-e rendered to a ronqueror were now paid 
without criticism to a general who had made no eomiuests. 
MoLane took the occasion to beat up the lines so thor- 
oughly that he was pursued to the "Wissahiecon Hills ; but 
the i>romoters of the gala kept their fair guests tranquil. 
Others whose forie was the pen rather than the sword, 
were not so soon silenced. Galloway was never weary of 
the theme : 

—"We had seen the same General, with a vanity and 
presumiition unparalleled in history, after this indolence, 
after all these wretched blunders, accept from a few of his 
officers a triumph more magnificent than would have be- 
come the conqueror of America, without the consent of 
his sovereign or the approbation of his country, and that 
at a time when the news of war with France had just ar- 
rived, and in the very city, the capital of North America, 
the late seat of Congress, which in a few days was to be 
delivered up to that Congress."! 

* "The Xorth-river expedition from New York, last autumn." 
t —Galloway's Reply, &-c. See also Towne's Confession (written 
by Dr. Witherspoon). Philadelphia, 1783; and Strictures on the 
Philadelphia Mischianza, or Triumph upon leaving America un- 
conquerod (London printed. Philadelphia reprinted, 1783): that 
I am inclined to attribute to Gallowav. This tract ascribes the 



THE MISCHIANZA. 201 

Colonel Johnson, who married Miss Franks, had liis 
quarters in the house of Edward Pennington, a leading 
Friend, at the corner of Crown and Race streets. It was 
thus the headquarters of the 28th, and was also the resort 
of a number of grave' elderly officers who, like the better 
class of Tories, had a high opinion of Washington. When 
the Mischianza was in everyone 's mouth, a young person 
of the family asked of an old major of artillery what was 
the distinction between the Knights of the Mountain and 
the Rose.— "Why, child," quoth he, "the Knights of the 
Burning Mountain are tom-fools, and the Knights of the 
Blended Rose are damned fools— I Imow of no other dif- 
ference between them." Then, placing a hand on either 
knee, he added in a tone of unsuppressed mortification— 
"What will Washington think of all this!" 

fete to Sir William's flatterers, "promoted by his favour, or pos- 
sibly enriched by his connivance." — "He bounced off with his 
bombs and burning hearts set upon the pillars of his triumphal 
arch, which, at the proper time of the show, burst out in a shower 
of squibs and crackers and other fireworks, to the delectable 
amazement of Miss Craig, Miss Chew, Miss Eedman, and all the 
other Misses, dressed out as the fair damsels of the Blended Rose 
And of the Burnino; Mountain for this farce at Knight-errantry." 




CHAPTER X. 



l']v;uu:iiiou of I'liihulelphia. — Battle of Monnunith. — D'Estaing's 
Arrival. — Andre accompanies Grey against New Bedford. — His 
Satirical \'erses ou the Investment of Newport. — Aide to Clin- 
ton. — Character of this General. — Andre's Verses upon an 
American Duel. 




1110 instructions imder which Clinton was to 
take cominaiid had involved an early and vig- 
orous canii>ai,nii. and preparations at Phila- 
dclliliia were made accordingly. On the Llord 
of j\lay, however, the orders of ^larch 21st were received, 
which, in consideration of the hostile intervention of 
France, U)oked to a retreat to New York and large de- 
tachments thence to tiic West Indies.* A council of war 
was held, and the evacuation of Philadelphia provided 
for. The inuuense military stores, together with 3000 of 
tlie civil population who feared to meet the wrath of the 
incoming Americans, were to be sent in the fleet; the 
troops, with their provision-trains, &c., for lack of room 
ou board, were to march by land. All were busied with 
pi-eparations for removal. Knyphausen bade farewell to 
the pleasant quarters in llnd Street, where he should no 
more spread butter ou his bread with his thumb. Andre's 
lodgings were at the house of Dr. Franklin, a full descrip- 
tion of which, with all its furniture down to the pictures 

* "The first orders Sir H. Clinton had were to bring Washing- 
ton to action, to detach an expedition against seaports. &o., when 
the promised reinforcements should arrive (I'^JOOO recruits) to 
complete his army. On the interference of the [French.] near 
l-:000. instead of sent, were taken from Sir H. C. He was or- 
dered to embark the armv and proceed to New York, where the 
commissioners were to open communication, and then to detach 
to W. Indies, &c."— Clinton MS. 



EVACUATION OF PHILADELPHIA. 203 

of the king and queen and of the Earl of Bute, "in the 
room for our friends," is given by Mrs. Franklin to her 
liusl)and, in 1765. His daughter, Mrs. Ba<'he, had aban- 
doned the place on Howe's approach. On her I'eturn she 
complained of some spoliations though not so great as she 
had expected "from the hands of such a rapacious crew."' 
"A Captain Andre also took with him the picture of you, 
which hung in the dining-room." One might almost 
fancy Andre rummaging the bales of dead letters that, 
while Franklin was at the head of the Amei'ican i)osi- 
office wei'e piled away in the garrets of this house.* 

Before passing from Philadelphia, mention may be 
made of another ghost story, about as well authenticated 
as such stories usually are, in which Andre and his fate 
were again prefigured. The Springettsbury Manor- 
house, in the present neighborhood of 20th and Spring- 
garden Streets, was then a favorite resort for rural enter- 
tainments. Though long disused by the Penns, its pro- 
prietors, the house and grounds were kept up, and officers 
were accustomed to provide dinner-parties there. Two 
ladies of the family of my informant, who had known 
Andre, were on their way hither, to dine with Washing- 
ton and some other American officers, where Andre and 
his comrades had often feasted before. As they passed 
through the groves of cedars and catalpas that sur- 
rounded the mansion, they perceived simultaneously a 

* In some severe strictures on his character published after his 
death, it was positively alleged that Andre took away with him 
from the Library Company of Philadelphia a copy of the Ency- 
chpklie, which had been presented by Dr. Franklin. Franklin's, 
benefactions to this institution were not numerous, and it is easy 
to discover that no such work was among them, and that there 
is no earthly cause to believe that Andre was guilty of any pecca- 
dillo of the nature imputed to him. Certainly it does not appear 
that any one acquainted with the affairs of the Library ever en- 
tertained such a thought. 



EVACUATION OF PHILADELPHIA. 205 

of June 17tli, the lines were manned as usual, and the 
troops led out of quarters and bivouacked on ground be- 
yond the built-up parts of the town. This was to guard 
against the plunder or incendiarism of a retreating army, 
and to avert from Philadelphia the calamity which there 
is too much reason to suppose was unauthorizedly inflicted 
in 1776, by some of our troops, as they evacuated New 
York. At three A. M., on the 19th, the army marched 
across the commons and crossed at Gloucester Point, 
three miles below the centre of the city. By ten A. M. the 
rear-guard came over, and the march for New York began. 
Lord Howe supervised the water-carriage, and was the 
last man to embark. The chief of the fleet had already 
dropped down to Reedy Island; and a few of the most 
important of the loyalists, who had lingered to the last 
moment in the places that were to know them no more, 
now dejectedly sailed after it. "When we left Philadel- 
l^hia," wrote one of these, "the night of the 17th of June, 
the finest night 1 ever saw, was obscured by the most 
melancholy reflections I ever felt. ' ' They were two days 
and two nights to Eeedy Island, and thirteen days to the 
Capes. The weather was hot and calm; and visiting 
about was kept up among the ships. "How melancholy 
was the idea that the fleet might be compared to a town 
peopled by our friends ! Alas, it was a town founded by 
misfortune, and inhabitants connected by similarity of 
misery." The bulk of the Tories, however, went with 
the ai'my:— "and took their baggage with them, which 
was a great incumbrance during the march."* 

Many of the soldiers, especially of those who had mar- 
ried in town, hid themselves in cellars and such places 
and remained behind, and the deserters ere Clinton 
reached New York were estimated at 1000; but perhaps 

* Clinton MS. 



206 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

tlio hist niMii to quit Philadelitliia \v;is Lord Cosmo Gor- 
don. He slopt at his quarters all uight and so late the next 
day, that the family out of kindness at length awakened 
him. the news of "his friends the rebels" being in town. 
It was as mnoh as lie could do to slip to the waterside and 
find a skilT to carry himself and his servant over. Two 
hours after (lie rcar-gunrd was gone, the American dra- 
goons gallo])od tlirough the streets. 

Nothing could have been more cleverly managed than 
the evacuation. So silently was it conducted, that many 
oi tlie inhabitants knew of it only when they went about 
in the morning, and found not a British regiment re- 
maining. "They did not go away; they vanished." 
But the real difficulties of the retreat were only begun. 
Clinton did not calculate to forage on his journey, and 
the tiuantities of stores and baggage that the transports 
could not receive or his troo]is could not dispense with, 
formed a line of march twelve miles long. He antici- 
l^ated an attack, and as he sat on a rock and reviewed the 
prolonged train, he was half-inclined to destroy all his 
incumbrances on the spot. But this, he thought, would 
be iiiade too great a handle for trimuph to his enemies; 
so he manfully resolved to contide the issue to the swoi\ls 
of his followers and his own skill. His retreat, neces- 
sarily slow, was perfectly deliberate and nothing resemb- 
ling tlight. The first day's uuirch was but live miles ; and 
though it would seem as clear that his object must have 
been an uninterrupted passage as that ours was to fall on 
his cumbered and attenuated line, the Englishman, by our 
l^st American judgment, rather invited a general action. 
He does not himself discountenance this idea. "Pei'haps 
^Vashington was not qiiite mistaken," says he. "Per- 
haps Sir Henry Clinton was as desirous of bringing it to 
one decisive stroke, as AVashington seemed desirous of 



EVACUAIION OF PHILADELPHIA. 207 

avoiding it."* He likewise Icept his own counsel, and 
not until June 24tli was it known, even to liis officers, what 
was his purposed route or destination. 

During May and June our army at Valley Forge had 
been constantly exercising and prepai'ing for coniiiat on 
a moment's warning. On the 22nd of June it crossed at 
Coryell's Ferry to the same side of the Delaware with 
Clinton. It was stripped of all ineffective and heavy 
baggage, and put into trim fighting condition, and the 
arms were carefully cleaned and inspected. On the 24th, 
two days' provision was cooked; and on the 27t]i, the 
troops were ordered to be provisioned till the 29tii, in- 
clusive, and to be kept compact and ready to move at the 
shortest notice. Other precautions were taken:— "The 
drums to beat on the march. When the rear is to come 
up, a common march; to quicken the march, a grenadier's 
march. These signals to begin in the rear under the di- 
rection of the brigadier of the day, and are to be repeated 
by the orderly drum of every battalion from rear to front. 
An orderly drum to be kept ready braced with each bat- 
talion for this purpose. When the whole line is to halt 
for refreshment, the first part of the General will beat, 
and this to be repeated by every orderly drum down to 
the rear. ' 'f 

These signals were very necessary; but it was impos- 
sible that in a few hours a whole army should be taught 
to regulate its conduct by the rattle of a bit of sheepskin, 
and it was a just complaint on the 28th that our regiments 
had no distinguishing uniforms or standards, and were 
deficient in instruments proper to sound a retreat, a halt, 
a march or a charge. 

Though the advice of his council was against a general 

* Clinton .¥,9. 

^MS. Am. 0. B. June 27, 1778. 



208 LIKE OF JIAJOR ANDRE. 

action, "Washington was now prompted liy liis own incli- 
nations and the circumstances of the case to steps that 
rendered an engagvmeut ahnost nnavoidaltle. On the 
1271 li June, with our advance under La Fayette at but live 
miles distance. C'lintiui foresaw the coming couHict. Eu- 
eami>ed in a strong posititni he passed a quiet night, and 
by iive o'clock of the next morning Kuyphausen was on 
his march with all the baggage and a large part of the 
troops, including the Pennsylvania and Maryland Loyal- 
ists, and most of the Ilessiaus. That the march should 
have been so dangerously cumbered was, it would appear, 
entirely due to Clinton's military pride. He himself 
confesses the error of thus overloading the legitimate 
operations of his men:— "Sir IL Clinton was certainly to 
blame for permitting it. The reason was explained 
above, lie lost not a cart, however. "f 

The position of our jieojilc was well weighed by the 
ro>al general. Morgan hung over his right and Dick- 
inson over his left; while the advance of our main army 
was at Euglishtown, less in the rear than on the left of 
his abode on the night of the "JTlh, with the remainder 
of our people not far behind. Years of retlection served 
only to contirm Clinton in his original opinion that the 
real aim of the Americans was against his baggage.— 
"Washington, so little desirous does he seem to have been 
of risking a general action, had passed the South river 
and put three or four of its marshy boggy branches be- 
tween his army and that of the British."* 

It is not proposed liere to give a detailed account of the 
battle of Monmouth. Its story has lieen often and well 
told, and the circumstances that lend it a peculiar interest 
as liberally canvassed. In conunon justice, however, to 
the reputation of the turbulent and irregular Lee, whose 

♦ Clinton MS. f Clinton MS. 



MONMOUTH. 209 

prestige was on tliis daj- so fatally dainaged, f must ac- 
knowledge that his conduct before the enemy seems to 
me to liave been unworthy of tlie ceiisure it received. 

The flower of the King's soldiery, it will be recollected, 
rested with their general on tlie place of their encamp- 
ment till the day was well advanced, and Knypliausen 
fairly under way. In such a well-chosen situation, with 
various natural defences or impediments intervening be- 
tween himself and our men, it was entirely impossible. 
Sir Henry thought, for the Americans to gain any ad- 
vantage while he held the position: for it was difficult 
for them to traverse at all the bad ground to reach him; 
and the ranks would necessarily fall into such disorder 
in the passage as to be easily cut down as fast as they 
appeared. Not far away were the Middletown Plills, 
where he would certainly be secure; and it was evident, 
therefore, he must Ije attacked now or never. His own 
idea was that we aimed at his baggage; and accordingly 
he perhaps resolved to give us such a handling here as 
would prevent any large bodies being thrown forward on 
his flanks. It is difficult to get at the precise numbers of 
either army. Sir Henry loosely estimated his opponents 
at near 20,000. Washington's own force certainly 
amounted to 10,684 effective rank and file, exclusive of 
Maxwell's brigade and perhaps of Morgan's regiment of 
600 men, and Cadwalader's 400 Continentals and 100 vol- 
unteers. If these, and Dickinson's 1000 Jersey militia, 
who hung on the enemy's line, are to be added, it would 
swell the total directed against him to 13,000 or 14,000 
men. The British were less, says Marshall, than 10,000; 
and if we allow for the desertions, &c., that he claims, we 
may put them at about 9,600. A large part of these were 
started with the baggage under Knyphausen at daybreak : 
with Cornwallis and the balance, at least 5000 or 6000 of 

14 



1210 l.U'K OF JMA.lOi; ANDUE. 

the elite of tlio .-iniiv, Clinloii hiinssolf roinaiiiod until 8 

A. i\r. 

or (ho battlo foiig-lit on Smulay, -hiiio 2Sth, 1778, 1 shall 
have but little to say. The circumstances of the case ap- 
peal' to he as follows : Between the two opposing armies 
stretched some very dansrovous ground. Lee's advance, 
ombarrassod by this and hy the jiowerfnl front jtrcsented 
by (he retiring enemy, quickly fell back, pursued in their 
own turn. Lee vindicates this policy in the declaration 
that the more extensively he was followed, the better for 
our cause it would have been: for as our main army came 
\xp, it would find a comparatively fruitful victory in every 
English regiment that had juit the morasses referred to 
between itself and the renuvinder of Clinton's trooi>s. 
The interruiition of this plan by "Washington, and the 
resumjition of the attack ere yet the enemy were fairly 
launched from their stronghold, he seems to have consid- 
ered capital errors; and it is certainly plain that our 
whole force througli the whole day elfected nothing much 
beyond what Lee might liave done, nor succeeded in driv- 
ing Clinton a rood's distance from the place he held 
when the fray begun. Sir Henry's own story, too, is in 
perfect concurrence with Lee's: — 

"Sir Henry Clinton had been ordered to embark the 
army at Philadelphia, and proceeded to Xew York. For 
various reasons he ventured to disobey the King's com- 
mands, imd by that disobedience saved both army and 
nav> . The principle of the British army was retreat at 
this period. AVashington's (Wdiit (jiuirdc jvisses to 
marshy boggy branches at single bridges and attacks the 
British rearguard; probably with no other intent than 
to amuse while another corps attempted the baggage. 
The British rearguard forces Lee back over all these 
branches bevoud the Lake. Lee is met by AVashington 



BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 211 

arriving in column from Englishtown. Here of course 
the business would liave finished; but the ungovernable 
impetuosity of the light troops had drawn tliem over the 
morass, and till they returned it became necessary to 
mask the 4th ravine to prevent the enemy from passing 
it and cutting [off] the above corps; and the 1st Guards 
and 33rd regiment, under Col. Meadows and Webster, 
maintained the ground exposed to a ci'ossfiro, and with 
severe loss, till tlie liglit troo])s had retired ovci- the bog 
in safety. ... The great Frederick, on hearing Sir Henry 
Clinton's account of this action and Lee's defence at his 
trial, said that when two opposite gentlemen agree in de- 
scribing the ground and events of the day, they must both 
be right."* 

The heat was in the last degree op]iressive. Men fell 
dead in the ranks without a wound ; and the panting Hes- 
sians swore that in such an atmosphere they would fight 
no longer. Night at last jjronglit relief. At 10 P. M. 
Clinton arrayed his weaiy bands, and led them to where 
Knyi)hausen was halted, three miles away in the Nut 
Swamp. The moon setting on that night at 10.55 P. M., 
barely sufficed to light his path. Our army, we are told, 
was unaware of the march ; but it is probable that it had 
little desire of renewing a contest in which, it is pretty 
clear, it had as yet gained no solid advantage. For 
whether the end was to kill or capture Clinton's troops, 
or to get possession of his baggage, we were successful in 
neither. The battle was at most a drawn one; and the 
only interruption the baggage received was when a small 
party would run across the I'oad between the carts, with- 
out being permitted to attempt anything. There was no 
attack on it, and it had no losses at all. 

The merits, however, of the battle of Monmouth were 

* Clinton MS. 



212 l.IKIC (IK i\lA,l(IR ANDKE. 

Idudly (lisi)iil('(l and vaiionsly canvassed. There were 
not waiitiii.n- military men in I'itiu'r army to condemn in 
]H)inti'(l terms tlio character of Wasliinj^ton's strategy; 
Avhik' Lcc's condnct soon raised a hornet's nest al)out 
that general's ears. ^\'liat were the words "Washington 
nsed to iiim when they met on the l)attle-field are nnknown 
to me, hilt they were nii<h)ul)tedly very strong in jihrase 
as well as tone. La Fayette was a party to the conversa- 
tion, lie avers tliat the excitement of the scene drove 
the precise langnage from liis memory. 'Pliis ])ersonal 
altercation ]irol)al)ly l)rouglit to a head tlie ill-hlood Ite- 
tween the two generals; and hnt for Lee's intem]HM-ate 
tongue after all was over, we might never have heard 
anything of liis misconduct upon tlie fiekl. It is certain 
that on the .'iOth June, he was appointed major-general for 
the ensuing day hy Washington, and that no excei)tion in 
his disfavor was ma(U' in the earlier orcU'rs from head- 
(|uarters. The Orderly r.ooks of June 29th say: — 

"The Connnander in Chief congratnhites the Army 
U]>on the victory ohtained over his Britannic ]\la,iesty's 
troops yesterthiy, and thanks most sincerely the gallant 
officers and men who distinguished themselves upon the 
occasion, and such others who hy their good order and 
coolness gave the happiest })resage of what might have 
been expected had they come to action. General Dickin- 
son and the Militia of his State are also thanked for their 
noble si>irit in opposing the enemy on their march from 
Philadelphia, and for the aid they have given by harass- 
ing and im]ieding their march so as to allow the conti- 
nental troops to come up with them.. . .A party consisting 
of ilOO men to parade innnediately to bury the slain of 
both parties; (General Woodford's brigade to cover the 
party. The officers of the American Army are to be 
buried with the military honours due to men who nobly 
fought and died in the cause of liberty and their Conn- 



er 



BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 213 

try The several detaclnTients except those under Col. 

Morgan are to join tlicir resjiective brigades immedi- 
ately." 

On the other hand, Clinton's course was freely and 
variously criticized. On the motion for thanks to him 
and Cornwallis, Mi'. Coke in the Commons declared that 
the whole march from Pliiladclpliia to New Yoi'k "was 
universally allowed to be the finest thing ])erformed dur- 
ing the present war : ' ' while the Earl of Shelburne char- 
acterized it as the "shameful retreat from Philadelphia, 
when the General escaped with his whole army, rather by 
chance and the misconduct of the (>nemy, than by the nat- 
ural ability of the force undcu- his command." With 
sounder cause, military critics have questioned the wis- 
dom of the Britisli course. Why, when safe retreat was 
the manifest object, should Sir Henry have avoided the 
shorter route by the Rai'itan, and taken the longer road 
to Sandy Hook? This question Sir Henry himself has 
answered, by a reference to the position of his adver- 
saries :— " Gates in front beyond the Raritan : Washington 
in the rear and left behind the Milestone Creek, with the 
Fords of Raritan on his left, to join or be joined by 
Gates."* Why did he pause for two days at Monmouth, 
when Washington was closing on his skirts, and his para- 
mount object should have been to get a communication 
with the fleet! "No military man," quoth Clinton 
scornfully, "can ask this question. "t And to Stedman's 
recapitulation of the dangerous straits to which bis army 
would have been reduced had Washington turned either 
of the British flanks, Sir Henry tra^iuilly replies: 
"When the author knows the country a little better, and 
possible military movements in it a little better, this (|ues- 

* Clinton .¥^. t H^iJ- 



214 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

tion iii;iy be answered. "J From the various ciroum- 
staiu'os of the case, and particularly from the Royal 
commander's evident selection of tlie i)ositiou he fought 
in, and his remaining on it till the encounter actually 
occurred, it may be presumed tliat he had, or thought lie 
had good cauirJo to expect at least so nuich success as he 
experienced. "Tell Cieneral Philips," said he to Major 
Clarke, "that on that day I fought upon velvet: he will 
fully understand me." For my own part, though I have 
preferred to give the story in the original language of its 
actors, 1 am unable to conjecture the reasons wherefrom 
Clinton derived such sanguine anticipations of victory in 
every contingency. That he should have expected to 
secure the preservation of his baggage by just such a 
check as he gave our people is plausible enough; but that 
his troops should liave preserved their e(iuanimity imder 
the very probable event that Stcdmau suggests, is not to 
my comprehension so plain. Probably the matter would 
appear in a dift'erent light to a professional eye. 

Once among the Middletown Hills, the English were 
out of danger from the Americans. Tlie marcli to Sandy 
Hook was easy; the baggage was trans]iorted, by aid of 
the fleet, over a bridge of boats; anil after delaying a 
little in hope of encountering our army, the rest of the 
enemy's force followed to Staten Island. 

On July 5th, the vov\ tlay that Clinton passed from the 
main land to Staten Island. D'Estaing's fleet appeared 
on the ^'irginia coast. But for an unusually long voyage 
it might have found Howe's vessels yet in the Delaware; 
and well informed writers reckon that an earlier arrival 
at Sandy Hook would have prevented Sir Henry's 
crossing. He himself was of dilfereut opinion. "U" all 
the enemies' combined fleet had been laj-ing at Sandy 

t Clinton MS. 



d'estaing's arrivai.. 215 

Hook Sir H. Clinton, commanding with gallics a,.,! -nm 
boats the inner channel, could always have go tokZn 

IS:: '''^irLi:T-;r ^^ - ^^^^ 

nf ^h^ V I ^ i^-staing with twelve shins 

without the Hook, designing an attack on the British 
squaxLon in the harbor. Howe's armament w.!s con d 

tour of tifty guns and some smaller craft; and his vessels 

ovrthrcr""^''r"^'™"""'- ^"^^^ ^-d -""ii 

over the crews of a vast numher of transports- 2000 
naval volunteers pressed forward to engage in the ex- 
pected action of whom at least 1000 were accepted; and 
the ariger and indignation that pervaded all ranks ampljr 
supplied any deficiencies of liis muster-rolls. Mates and 
masters of merchantmen sought places at the guns 
among tlie common sailors; and it is highly probable that 
had D Estaing got over the bar and into the harbor he 
never would have got out again in command of his own 
ships But there was not water, he thought, for liis larger 
vessels; and in the moment when, by favorable coniunc- 
ture of wind and tide, the whole British population were 
agog in anticipation of attack, he i)ut up his helm and 
by preconcerted arrangement with Washington bore 
away for Rhode Island. Scarcely was he out of sight 
however, when sail after sail of Byron's command came 
dropping in, shattered and weather-beaten; all of which 
must have fallen into his hands but for his withdrawal. 
With these, though still inferior to the French Howe 
sailed to find them. ' 

Meantime Sullivan, Greene, and Lafayette, with 10 000 
Zfn ^f \f ««^bled against Pigot, well entrenched ^ith 
WOO at Newport. On D'Estaing's arrival success 

* Clinton MS. 



216 



LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 



seemed pertain; and the militia of .Massaelmsetts, led by 
Hauoook in person, pleased themselves with the idea of 
at last getting rid of so abhorred and dangerous a 
neighbor. But dissensions sprung up between the French 
and American leaders, in which the former wore chiefly to 
blame. Howe's fleet appeared; D'Kstaing stood out with 
the weatliergage to figai him ; a storm sprung up, and the 
French only reai)peared at Newport to notify their inten- 
tion of proceeding forthwith to refit at Boston. The 
i-emonstrances and the anger of our generals were equally 
vain. D'Estaing went away, and the siege was al)an- 
doned. Clinton, who had sailed with 4000 men to relieve 
Pigot, no sooner knew the French flfeet to be gone, than 
he endeavored either to intercept Sullivan's retreat, or 
to find means to fall upon Providence. Gi'ey's division 
was with him; and when he fomul it impossible to carry 
out his original ideas he dispatched this officer against 
New Bedford,— one of the chief among the minor sea- 
ports that lined the New England coast, and wrought 
infinite mischief to British commerce. On the 5th Sep- 
tember, at five P. j\r., (irey anchored in Clark's Cove, and 
at six, debarking with very slight loss, he ravaged the 
Aeushnet River for six miles. The fort was dismantled 
and burned, its guns demolished, and its n^agazine 
blown uji; ujiwards of seventy sail of privateers and 
their ])rizes consumed; and numbers of buildings con- 
taining verj' great quantities of stores reduced to ashes. 
From Buzzard's Bay he passed through the baffling tides 
of Quick's Hole (which can never be forgotten by any one 
who has ever sailed over them), to Martha's Vineyard; 
where he levied a contribution of 300 oxen, 10,000 sheep, 
all the arms of the militia, and £1000 in paper-money, 
being the sum of the public funds on hand. Taking or 
destroying what vessels he found there. Grey returned 
from the island to New York. His esteem for his aide. 



ANDBE'S VERSES ON THE INVESTMENT OP NEWPORT. 217 

however, and his desire to leave him it ],;« . 

tooting at head-quarters, probably induced the .^ener-il 
o send by „s Iiands in the first instance a x.; brie 
account of his doings to Clinton. "I write in Inste- 
he says, "and not a little tired; therefore niustLg W 
to lefer you for the late plan of operations and par«cu ars 
to Captain Andre." The value of such language re 
peated froin the commander-in-chief to the inini^ter at 
London, and reiterated in the official gazettes can readifv 
be appreciated by all military men. * It wk "Xb y 

^£ri^^,X::z::;T' ^^^ ^- ^-^- of 

YANKEE DOODLE'S EXPEDITION TO EHODE ISLAND. 

From Le^vis Monsieur Gerard came 

io ConjiTess in this town, Sir; 
They bow'd to him, and he to them 

And then they all sat down. Sir ' 
Chorus: Yankee Doodle, &c. 

Begar, said I\ronsieiir, one grand roup 

lou shall biotot behold, Sir 
Ihis was believed as Gospel true ' 
And Jonathan felt bold, Sir. ' 

So Yankee Doodle did forget 

The sound of British drum. Sir- 
tiow oft It made liim quake and sweat 

In spite of Yankee rum. Sir. 

He took his wallet on his back 

His rifle on his shoulder. 
And reoiv'd Rhode Island to attack 

cetore he was much older 

EeS's i.3, i"43G. "'''' "*^'^*^"^ ''P'^''^'^ ""-^er Grey-- 



218 l.ll'K Ol- MAJOU AXDUE. 

In ilioiul array their tattcr'd crow 
Ailvaiu'M \vitl> colours sprcatl. Sir; 

Tiioir lH'cs jilaycd Yankee Doodle doo, 
Kill;; Hancock at their head. Sir. 

What iiuinbcrs hravely cross'd the seas 

1 cannot well determine; 
A swarm of Kebols and of tleas 

And every oilier vermin. 

Their miglity hearts might shrink, they tho't; 

For all tlesh only grass is; 
A plenteous store they therefore brought 

Of whiskey and molasses. 

They swore they'd make boKl Pigot squeak. 

So did their (7i<i'(/ Ally. Sir, 
And take him prisoner in a week; 

But that was all my eye, Sir. 

As Jonathan so much desir'd 

To shine in martial story, 
D'Kstaing with politfsse retir'd 

To leave liim all the glory. 

He left him what was better yet; 

At least it was more use. Sir: 
He left him for a quick retreat 

A very good excuse. Sir. 

To stay, unless he rul'd the sea. 

He thought would not be right. Sir; 
And Continental troops, said he. 

On islands should not tight. Sir. 

Another cause with these combin'd . 

To throw him in the dumps. Sir: 
For Clinton's name alarm'd his mind 

And made him stir his stumps. Sir. 

Sing Yankee Doodle Doodle doo, &c.* 

* This piece is reprinted, with iiseful notes, in Moore's Bal- 
laJs of thf Rrtvltilion. The tirst verses refer to the terms in which 
the .\meriean papers related Gerard's reception by Congress; and 
in this connection, the lines were originally pretended to have 
been written at Philadelphia. They are printed here from the 



HIS TROMOTION. — SIK CilAKI.KS tiUEY. 219 

AVhilo D'Kstaing, luuler eovcr of n.nni.Ial.lo works on 
(reorge's Island whore lie had nioiuitod 100 heavy guns 
was repairing his fleet, Congress and Washington were 
striving to allay the heats into which our generals wov 
thrown by lus withdrawal from Newport. Tlioui.ii they 
succeeded in stilling tlie angry tongues of superior 
officers, the passions of the populace were still inllanicd- 
and in a not that sprung up in Boston, some of the 
-frenchmen were very severely handled.* When Howe 
returned to New York from a fruitless cruise before 
Boston, and found reinforcements that gave liini the 
superiority, a serious move was under considorati 



tioii. 



"After Lord Howe had been joined bv the gieatcr pai't 
of Byron's squadron, Sir II. Clinion oiVered himself with 
6000 trooi)s to accompany Lord H. to Boston Bav, to 
attempt a landing on Point Alderton;t to endeavor from 
thence to attack or destroy the batteries on the islands 
covering D'Estaing's fleet; or, by seizing Boston, de- 
prive that fleet of its necessary supplies, and force it 
to quit its position. Lord IF. seemed at first to relish the 
proposal, but afterwards declined it, for reasons I am 
persuaded the best, tho' he never communicated them 
to me. From what ] have heard since, I really believe 
we would have succeeded. D'Estaing had only eleven, 
and Lord Howe twenty-one sail of the line.:!: 

The fact is, that the Admiral had made up his mind to 
go hoiiK! as soon as the fleet was stronger than 

text given b.y Kivington's tract, 1780; whidi, lliougli it docs not 
name tlie author, contains two other pieces l)y Andre, and one 
by his friend and literary coadjutor. Dr. Odell. Internal evidence 
also points to Andre as tlie writer. 

* Two French naval olTiccrs were wouihUm], one mortallv — 
Heath, Mcmoirx. ■'' 

t AI]erton"s Point, b". 1. 

X Clinton MS. 



'220 LIFE OF JIAJOR ANDRE. 

D'Estaing's. On tlie 2Gth of September, "Black Dick," 
as he was called, loft the coast, with the regret of all who 
had served under him. His successor, the inefficient 
Gambier, held command to the following March, when 
he was removed, wrote a loyalist, "to the universal joy 
of all ranks and conditions. I believe no person was 
ever more detested by navy, army, and citizen, than this 
penurious old reptile." In later years he brought shame 
on the service at the Basque Roads, and became in Hood's 
satire the great Oanibogee of the Hum-Fum Society. 

Andre's next active service was when Clinton pushed 
hea\y detachments i\[) the North River, and [also when 
he] destroyed the privateers of Egg Harbor.* Lest his 
aim might bo the Highlands, troops were so posted by 
A\'ashington as to interrujit and discover such a move- 
ment. Of these was Baylor's regiment of dragoons which, 
on the 28th of September, was quartered at Taapanf or 
Haringtown, a small hamlet on the Hackensack River. 
Against these Grey so skilfully led a night-attack, that 
the Americans had no opportunity of saving themselves, 
but by dispersion and flight. In affairs of this nature, 
it is not the custom of war to lose time in receiving and 
disarming prisoners, and sending them to the rear; 
nevertheless, "the whole of the fourth troop," says 
JNIarshall, "were spared by one of Grey's captains, whose 
humanity was superior to his obedience to orders.". We 
may well su]ipose that this cai^tain was the general's aide. 
Among the Americans who fell was Major Clough,J who 
had aided with these troo])ers in distvirbing the lines of 
Philadeli)hia, on the night of the Mischianza. This stroke, 
however, on a smaller scale but in the very style of the 

* (N. J.) Here Pulaski's dragoons were massacred. 
t Almost three years later to a day, and only two miles cast of 
>'his place (Old Tappan) Andre was executed. 

J Alexander Cloujih, Major 3i-d Continental Dragoons. 



Andre's pkomotion. 221 

Paoli, was greatly censured in our camp, an<l denoimccd 
as little else than a massacre.* A reinforcement of 3500 
men from England had reached Clinton on the 25th of 
August, but their arrival had been so delayed by a detour 
to the channel island of Jersey, that they were too late to 
be ot much use m this campaign.f 

At this period, Andre again changed his regiment 
The 26th was ordered home; but such was the reluctance 
to part with so valuable an officer, that his superiors went 
to the trouble of an arrangement by which he might still 
remain with Clinton. The 44th, in which his brother was 
a captain, was ordered to Canada. A captain of the 54th, 
which was to continue in America, wishing to sell, it was 
settled that he sliould take, instead of his own, the 
younger Andre's company in the 44th, which he forthwith 
sold to Sir Thomas Wallace; to whom the purchase- 
money was advanced by Sir James Wallace of the navy 
(apparently no relation) to the amount of £1500 or £2000. 
John Andre had the vacated captaincy in the 54th and 
his brother took that in the 26th, choosing to go to 
England rather than Canada. Grey also leaving this 
country, Andre, with the provincial rank of major, was 
appointed an aide to Sir Henry Clinton. Considerino- 
the relations that existed between this general and his 
predecessor, it at least was no slight compliment to an 
officer's merits that both should be so ready to oblige him. 

Sir Henry Clinton was the son of Admiral George 

n/flTi°'-"f'\*° *-'''°^ ^"""^'^ celebrated tliese and other feats 
.In. nff ' 'f r ^^ '"^ appropriate verse; but compositions that 
savor of his s yle cannot be introduced here without evidence of 
authorship. See The British Light Infantry; A MeMeyfor the 

^:t?"f:^' The^aa-fMet.; priied ii! T^, ^2/ 7^«f^ 
of the Mevoiuiinn. "^ ■' 

t "Two months of most important operations lost by this Don 
Quixotic move to Jersey."— Clinton MS. 



'222 LIFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Clinton, once governor of New York, who was second son 
of the ninth Earl of Lincoln. The Clintons came from 
Geoffrey de Clinton, the builder of Kenilworth, who 
though a »ov>is homo in 1129, was the father of i)rincely 
lines. In the old days, when baronies were held by tenure 
and not by writ, it may be supposed that the Clintons 
were not a house of the first magnitude, since they do not 
apiiear among the twenty-five great guardians of Magna 
Chai'ta, in the l)egiiming of the thirteenth century: not 
an unlucky circumstance for them in the end, as not a 
male descendant of the "Iron Barons" is a peer to-day. 
In person, Sir Henry was short and stout, with a full face 
and prominent nose: his manners reserved, and thoiigh 
polite, not popular with the world at large. He had long 
been accustomed to arms in the best practical schools of 
Europe; and Prince Ferdinand bore very honora1)le 
testimony to his capacity. At Bunker Hill, without 
waiting for orders, he flew to lead the reinforcements for 
Howe which were wavering in uncertainty whither to 
march ; and was of essential service. These officers, who 
"never differed in one jot of military sentiment" at this 
period, became afterwards rivals and foes. He was 
regai-ded by many, however, as more conspicuous for 
honesty, zeal, and courage, than for military genius. It 
was complained that he never knew when to strike. In 
our army, a plan for his seizure was canvassed and 
abandoned on the ground that his measure was exactly 
ascertained, and any change in the command would be 
for the worse. "I should be very sorry," wrote Living- 
ston at the time of Cornwallis's fall, "to have Clinton 
recalled through any national resentment against him, 
because, as fertile as that country is in the production of 
blockheads, I think they cannot easily send us a greater 
blunderbuss, unless ]>eradventure it should please his 
Majesty himself to do us the honour of a visit. ' ' He was 



CHAEACTEK OF SIR HENRY CLINTON. 223 

accused, and not without appearance of reason, of an 
habitual indecision, that in a man vested with a great pub- 
lie trust often approaches imbecility. An instance of this 
trait occurred when he suffered the American and French 
armies to pass from his own vicinity to that of Corn- 
wallis. It was evident that they must attack either the 
one British commander or the other; and success in 
either undertaking was ruin to the cause of the crown. 
An abler officer would perhaps have anticipated an as- 
sault on New York by finding a lucky chance to strike 
at the enemy himself; but when it was once plain that the 
allies were definitely gone to Virginia, it was folly not to 
send instant and abundant relief to the Chesapeake ; and 
it was worse than folly for a commander-in-chief to con- 
sider personal punctilio or private jealousies, when gi-eat 
state interests are concerned. He seems to have had 
a landed estate too in America ; but all the information I 
have on this subject consists in his notice of the measures 
for confiscation of Whig estates in Carolina, established 
by Cornwallis in 1780 : 

"I Icnow no great use in this act of severity; it was not 
even reported to me till it had been represented to and 
approved by the minister; it produced retaliation, and 
I was the sufferer, though a British subject and born a 
subject. My estate was confiscated and sold, and I can 
get redress nowhere."* 

To me, Sir Henry appears as a good man, and, in many 
respects, as an excellent officer, but deficient in the genius 
necessary for the first post. In private he was amiable 
and humane ; the correspondent of Gibbon and the confi- 
dential friend of Sheffield. He died governor of Gibraltar, 
December 13th, 1795. The spirit of faction that per- 
meated through both army and navy in this war, renders 

* Clinton MS. 



224 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

it sometimes diflicult to get at the real state of certain 
cases ; and liis retirement from America was respectably 
believed to have been less of a resignation than a removal 
He thus notices such a surmise: — 

"As this author chuses to insinuate that Sir Henry 
Clinton had been superceded in the coniniaud by Sir Guy 
Carleton, Sir H. C. takes leave to repeat what the King 
was pleased to say to him at the first audience he was 
called to after his return from America.— 'I always 
wished to see you, Sir Henry, in the command of my 
armies in America: but the Duke of Newcastle was so 
exceedingly ])res.sing for your return that I was obliged 
at last to acquiesce.' — Sir li. Clinton had asked three 
times every year to have leave to resign the command, but 
his Majesty would never before consent."* 

Both armies going into winter-quarters, little more 
occurred in this year of an active nature for Andre to 
bear part in. The French fleet was in the West Indies, 
whei'e Byron was vainly endeavoring to inveigle it to 
action; and the loyalists in New York were in constant 
hope of D'Estaing's destruction, and a consequent with- 
drawal of his court from the quarrel. "D'Estaing's 
blockade by Byron at Martinique— one of the most 
fortunate events of the war— must revive the spirits of 
the most drooping Tory in Philadelphia. The game is 
in our own hands, juid we may expect to hear next of the 
taking of D'Estaing. A treaty between England and 
France follows of course; and we must then shed tears 
of pity for poor America, laid in ruins to gratify the 
fatal ambition of a few artful men.f 

But the usual luck of "the hardy Byron" of the poet- 
more appropriately known as Foul-weather Jack by Ms 

* Clinton MS. f Loyalist MS. New York, 1778. 



Andre's verses upon an American duel. 225 

sailors— did not desert him. D'Estaing was not taken; 
and all the tears Tory eyes could command were in the 
end wanted for their own misfortunes. Of as little real 
importance, (considering that one of its heroes after- 
wards sat in judgment on the author's life,) was the 
following squib, published by Andre in Rivington's 
Gazette. It is a perfectly fair paraphrase, so far as de- 
tails are concerned, of the pompous account of a duel 
between Lieutenant-governor Gadsden of Carolina, and 
Major-general Robert Howe of our army, provoked by 
the former's published letter reflecting injuriously upon 
his opponent's military conduct. As Gadsden was not in 
Howe's line of service, and would neither retract nor 
apologize for his language, a challenge passed ; and in the 
consequent duel Howe's ball grazed his antagonist's ear, 
after which an honorable reconciliation was effected by 
the seconds. Col. Bernard Elliot and Gen. Charles Cotes- 
worth Pinckney. The initials in the verses are in strict 
accordance with those used in the American newspapers ; 
but the latter would fix the date of the encounter on Sept. 
5th. The introductory lines are of course a mere blind : — 

OX THE AFFAIli BETWEEN THE EEBEL GENEEALS 
HOWE AXD GADDESDEN. 

Charleston, S. C, Sept. 1st, 1778. 

We are favored with the following authentic account of the affair 
of honour, which happened on the 13th of August, 1778. Eleven 
o'clock was the hour appointed for Generals H. and G. to meet; 
accordingly, about ten minutes before eleven — but hold, it is too 
good a story to be told in simple prose. 

It was on Mr. Percy's land, 

At Squire Eugeley's corner, 
Great H. and G. met, sword in hand. 

Upon a point of honoiu'. 

Chorus: Yankee Doodle, doodle, doo, &e. 
15 



226 UFE OK MAJOR ANDRE. 

G. went before, witli Colonel E., 

Together in a carriage; 
Ou horseback followed 11. and P. 

As if to steal a marriage. 

On chosen ground they now alight, 
For battle duly harnessed; 

A shady place, and out of sight: 
It shew'd they were in earnest. 

They met, and in the usual way 
With hat in hand saluted; 

Which was. no doubt, to shew how they 
Like gentlemen disputed. 

And then they both together made 
This honest declaration, — 

That they came there, by honour led. 
And not by inclination. 

That if they fought, 'twas not because 
Of rancour, spite, or passion: 

But only to obey the laws 
Of custom and the fashion. 

The pistols, then, before their eyes 
Were fairly primed and loaded; 

H. wished, and so did G. likewise, 
The eustom were exploded. 

But. as they now had gone so far 
In such a bloody business. 

For action straight they both prepare 
With mutual forgiveness. 

Bnt lest their courage should exceed 
The bounds of moderation. 

Between the seconds 'twas agreed 
To fix them each a station. 

The distance, stepp'd by Colonel P,, 
Was only eight short paces; 

"Now. gentlemen." says Colonel E.. 
"Be sure to keep your places." 



Andre's verses upon an American duel. 227 

Quoth H. to G., — "Sir, please to fire;" 

Quotli G., — "No, pray bc^in, Sir:" 
And truly, we must needs admire 

The temper tlioy were in, Sir. 

"We'll fire both at once," said 11. ; 

And so they both presented; 
No answer was returned by G., 

But silence, Sir consented. 

They paused awhile, these gallant foes. 

By turns, politely grinning; 
'Till, after many cons and jmjs, 

IT. made a brisk beginning. 

H. missed his mark, but not iiis aim; 

The shot was well directed. 
It saved them both from hurt and shame; 

What more could be expected? 

Then G., to shew he meant no harm. 

But hated jars and jangles. 
His pistol fired across liis arm: 

From II., almost at angles. 

H. now was called upon by G. 

To fire another shot. Sir; 
He smiled and, "after that," (juolli he, 

"No, truly I cannot, Sir." 

Such honour did they both display 

They highly were commended; 
And thus, in short, this gallant fray 

Without miscliance was ended. 

No fresh dispute, we may suppose, 

Will e'er by them be started; 
And now the chiefs, no longer foes, 

Shook hands, and so they parted. 

Chorns: Yankee Doodle, doodle doo, &c. 

Through all the war, the British loved to ridicule our 
people with the burden of this song. Yankee Doodle was 
with them the most withering sarcasm. Sometimes they 



228 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

met a retort in kind hardly so grateful. Percy's drums 
boat this air wlion lie set out for Lexington; and Gates's 
niusieiaus repeated it when the arms were grounded at 
Saratoga. The idea was not new. When Cumberland 
crossed the Spey against Charles Edward, it was thought 
a wise thing to insult the Scots with the air— 



-"» 



"Will you play me fair play, 
Bonnie laddie, Ilijrhland laddie?" 






CHAPTER XL 



New York in 1778. — Andre's Political Essay. — His Favor with 
Clinton. — Keceives the Surrender of Fort La Fayette. — Letter 
to Mrs. Arnold. — Commencement of Arnold's Intrigue. — Ap- 
pointed Deputy Adjutant-General. — Siege of Charleston. — Let- 
ter to Savannah. — Accused of entering Charleston as a Spy. 




HE city of New York, for the rest of tlie war the 
British head-quarters, was far in 1778-9 from 
its present metropolitan condition. Though 
about a mile in length by half a mile in 
width, it was inferior in population and in import- 
ance to Philadelphia. Its narrow, clean and well- 
paved streets were lined with neatly-built houses of 
wood or brick, and these for convenience of the harbor 
being chiefly clustered along the East River, were thus 
subjected to difficulties in the supply of fresh water. The 
ruin caused by the conflagration of 1776 yet subsisted, and 
in the "Burnt District" the blackened skeletons of 500 
dwellings stretched along Broadway, from Whitehall Slip 
up to Rector Street. To this devastation was added that 
of the fire which broke out at one A. M. on the 10th of 
August, 1778, and consumed 300 houses. The best people 
then lived in Wall or Pearl streets; and to arrive at the 
present abodes of fashion, one must have ridden through 
several miles of country. Ponds, hills, and open fields 
extended where now is nothing but leagues of stone walls 
and solid pavements; and the mutilated statues of 
Chatham and King George bore public witness to the civic 
discord that had brought them from their high estate. 
But no dilapidation deprived the English soldier for the 
first time entering the port, of "the most beautiful scene 
that could be imagined." On the one hand were spread 



230 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

the fertile shores of Long Island, abounding in game, 
studded with country-seats and thiiving villages, and the 
garden-spot of the coast; on tlie other, wide forests rose 
above the rougli irregularities of Staten Island, in strong 
and luxuriant contrast to the nakedness of that on which 
the city stood, whence almost every tree had been removed. 
Powerful works defended all parts of the town. The old 
fortifications at The Battery, enlarged to receive ninety- 
four heavy guns, were strengthened with stone with 
merlons of cedar joists and filled in with earth ; they com- 
manded alike the entrances of the North and East rivers. 
Along the course too of either stream a series of breast- 
works were raised, connecting with each other in the 
strong ground towards Kingsltridge by well-ordered and 
powerful lines that followed the heights and extended 
across the island. In this upper part of the works, the 
first British i^ost to be met after crossing from the main- 
land over Ilarlaem Eiver to York Island, was Fort 
Charles: a strong redoubt overhanging and commanding 
Kingsbridge. Next, as we approach New York city, were 
the works that rising one above the other bristled with 
their guns the steeps of Laurel Hill. The road to the 
town led through a pass on the right, where again was 
lofty ground, on which stood Fort Knyphausen, once 
Fort "Washington, and so narrow was the path between 
the two ascents that the British closed it with a gate. 
Continuing on by where is now the Central Park, the 
ground renuiined singularly strong; at McCowan's Pass, 
it was believed that a few companies properly handled 
could keep an army at bay. The chief difficulty with these 
extensive works, however, was the great force necessary 
to defend them. Sufficiently manned, they were perhaps 
imin-egnable ; but to do this compelled the detention of 
thousands of troops from prolonged enterprise in the 
field. 



NEW YOEK IN 1778. 231 

The English had other posts without tlie limits of the 
island. At Sandy Hook were some heavy guns and mortar 
batteries. On the main-land above Morrisania was the 
small work called Number Four, usually garrisoned by a 
captain's guard and hardly capable of being preserved in 
a serious investment of the place. A regiment held the 
post where Paulus Hook stretches out from the Jersey 
shore into the North River. Formidable works were 
erected at Brooklyn Heights on that part of Long Island 
opposite to the city. The New Fort here woukf accom- 
modate 1000 to 1500 men. Brooklyn itself was then a 
small scattered village, with a capital tavern famous for 
its fish-dinners, which the royal officers were accustomed 
to consume to an extent that soon made a rich man of the 
landlord. These fish-loving gentry relate in melancholy 
wise the deprivation that fell upon the town by reason of 
the war. They tell that New York had long been depend- 
ent on the eastern coasts for its lobsters till a well-boat 
was shattered in Hell-Gate, and the escaping prey popu- 
lated the neighboring depths. Here they flourished in cold 
and in boiling water until the tremendous cannonading 
of the Long Island battle disturbed their retreats ; they 
passed away, and their accustomed haunts knew them no 
more. It was through this same whirlpool of Hell-Gate 
that Sir James Wallace, pursued by a French fleet into 
the eastern end of Long Island Sound, steered the 
Experiment in 1777. The passage was daring and peril- 
ous; but he brought her safely through. On Staten 
Island too Clinton had strong posts with 1000 or 1500 
men; and here Andre, with other young officers, was in 
the habit of visiting Simcoe's quarters, where the land- 
lord's pretty daughter bloomed in rustic seclusion and 
tempted many a gallant across the waters and the hills. 



232 I.IFE OF 1MA.T0R ANDRE. 

PROLOGUE U.N Ui'KNlNU TUK TilKATUE AT KKW YOUK. 
JAN'Y, 1779, SPOKEN BY CAPTAIN ANDRE. 

Well, somebody must foremost shew his face, 

Sure modesty's no virtue in this phice 

And Bnslifulness with Soldiers were disgrace. 

But soft, 'tis true you are a hardy band 

'Gainst wliora we phiyers have to make our stand. 

Too well aecoutered for the dire assault 

Unerring Marksman at an Actor's fault, 

Jnein'd as skill'd to brandish Satire's dart. 

Unarm 'd we all appear in ev'ry part 

And least of all iiroteeted at the heart. 

Yet have we Ground, and Ground to be maintain'd; 

F]ion the Flanks* we're ]iretty well sustain'd 

And let me tell you twixt yourselves and me 

That ^fr. Prompter is no bad Apimi. 

^^■hy shou'd we fear the foe in the Ravinef 

We've unnor Ground and Palisades** between 

And, Virat 7iV.r, none come behind the scene. 

Nor travers'd thus, the Perils shall we prove 

Of Missile Pippins from the Heights above. 

Shou'd all this fail, we adepts in this trade 

Can foil you by ^faneourre retrograde. 

— Of late, much prowess has thus been display'd. 

Yet e'er the Catcall sounds the dread alarm 

Can naught arrest the Critic's Vengeful arm? 

A plea we'll urge which Britons must admit 

One that shall silence all the shafts of Wit; 

Can Censure raise a dart against our Scene 

When Charity extends her hand between? 

Tluis when on I^atia's Shore the Sabine host 

('Twas then the fashion) raged for Spouses lost 

Lest Bloodshed shou'd ensure, each gentle woman 

With Condescension took her fav'rite Roman. 

Nor less Compliant, to appease the strife 

Each Sabine, in true ton, gave up his Wife. 

So Charity our Compromise proclaims. 

And interposes like the Sabine dames. 

We face you here, to claim her at your hands. 

* General boxes, 
t Pit. 
**Orchestra. 



NEW YORK IN 1778. 233 

Each Virtuous feeling seconds our demand; 
Critic and Actor, in the middle field 
Shall meet and parley — shall relent & yield. 
Give but the fair, the treaty shall prevail 
"We will, like Eomans, use the Lady Well. 
New Yuri-, Jaii'y 9, '79. 

If the population of New York was lessened by the 
migration of its Whigs, it was abundantly recruited by 
the incoming troops and Tories. It was well understood 
that Ministers were for manifold reasons resolv(;d to hold 
out longer here than in any other place ; and though many 
of the loyalists, "once lords of thousands," now lan- 
guished in comparative destitution at London, there were 
throngs at New York to supply their absence. Nor was 
involuntary increase wanting. 

"Our little half-demolished town here seems crowded 
to the full, and almost every day produces fresh inhabi- 
tants. Two or three days ago five or six wagon-loads of 
women and children were sent in from Albany, in imita- 
tion of the prudent policy of Philadelphia. It was im- 
possible to see them without pain, driving about the 
streets in the forlorn attitudes which people fatigued with 
travelling and riding in wagons naturally fall into, mak- 
ing fruitless searches for their husbands and fathers."* 

Dicing, drinking, fine dressing, and amateur theatricals, 
made New York as gay to the English as Philadelphia. 
Their stage was raised at the John Street Theatre, with 
Beaumont the surgeon-general as manager, and Major 
"Williams of the artillery for principal tragedian. Colonel 
French was the low-comedy man, and Andre, Stanley, 
De Lancey, &c., had various parts. Female characters, 
where an officer had not in his train a woman competent 
to the performance, were assigned to the youngest en- 

* Loyal MS. 



234 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

signs; and Macbeth, Richard III., and the Beaux Strata- 
gem, were ventured upon. The bottle was not neglected: 
hard drinking prevailed, and it was a point of social 
honor to press the glass upon guests-, and during morn- 
ing visits the puneh-bowl was freely circulated and healths 
drank by the ladies. Clinton's quarters were at No. 1 
Broadway; but he also maintained a country-seat in Dr. 
Beekman's house at the corner of 52nd Street and First 
Avenue, where he lived more at ease ; and every day 
might be seen with his staff taking his constitutional gal- 
lo]) up Broadway to what was then The Fields. The loy- 
alists, however, who found refuge here, were comforted 
neither with the military government of the city, nor the 
social eclipse into which they were thrown by "the Lords, 
and Sir Georges, and dear Colonels," of its garrison. 
The fashion of a fine gentleman's wearing two watches, 
which was ridiculous at Philadelphia, was esteemed 
highly polite in New York. The custom introduced by 
Admiral Digby of closing the windows for a half-past 
four 'clock dinner-party, and dining by candle-light, was 
as novel to the American stranger as the religious exacti- 
tude with which, through rain or snow, the New Year's 
calls were paid. At Philadelphia, after the evacuation, 
the loyal young people seem to have formed a sort of co- 
terie of tlieir own, that made it easy for their scrupulous 
parents to keep away "the lively French and the gallant 
Continentals"; but in New York, with half-a-dozen ad- 
mirers to every handsome girl, such care was hopeless. 
"You cannot imagine what a superfluity of danglei's there 
is here ; so that a lady has only to look over a list of a 
dozen or two when she is going to walk, or to dance, or to 
sleigh." The Tory manuscript from which I quote gives 
animated sketches of the city belles of this day. 

"Of those I mentioned to you before. Miss T is said 

to be the greatest beauty: tall, genteel, graceful in her 



NEW YORK IN 1778. 235> 

motions, with fine, light hair, dark speaking eves, a com- 
plexion superior to the boasted one of Mis^ K-1 X 
seldom fails to captivate those who see her; but to m! 

s bil ty of fea ures. Her sister less celebrated is more 

tuied, I woukl sooner, were I to offer my hand to a ladv', 
perso^., make choice of Miss Betsey T-- than her sLter 
who I ought to have called Mrs. B . " 

caff? \ ' "^! '^^t^^e^t^l Miss L , is tall and deli- 
cate features not regular, eyes not lively. There is a 
modest dignity in her appearance that no one could of 

simpUci^y' ^^"'''' "^ ''"' "^"^'^■^'^^^ ^^"«^^^^« -^d 

Mrs. F 's i^erson resembles N P '§• of 

course good, but she is not that beauty I expected to have 
T ■''.; of '^^"'l^le-^io^ is pale, her hair the colour of 
Juliet s. She appears delicate and languishing, and she 
has the misfortune of having a fine face ruined bv a very 
bad mouth, wide and unexpressive. . . . I cannot^pretend 
to do justice to the Miss M— s.-Mild, delicate, thought- 
ful, there is an air of pensive languor and unaffected 
modesty over the whole appearance of Miss Beulah that 
won d awe impudence itself into respect and s^anpathy. 
Neither tall, fair nor genteel, she pleases the more for be- 
ing the more uncommon; and with a pair of eyes that 
cannot strictly be called handsome, but which say every- 
thing that the owner pleases -a forehead open and in- 
genuous-cheeks that bloom continually with the softest 
tints of the rose, and a mouth formed bv the hands of the 
graces-joined to an abundance of dark flowing hair- 
confirms more conquests than the fluttering blaze of Mrs 

B— or the tall dignity of Mrs. F are ever able to 

produce. But Susan-the sweet, sprightly, amiable Su- 
san-how shall I describe thee! How shall I paint that 
flow of cheerfulness, that elegance, natural elegance, of 



236 I>IFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

expression ; that wit, that sense, that sensibility, that mod- 
esty, that good-natnro. and that winning air of artless 
youth; every one of which thou possessest to such a su- 
perior degree! Still more difficult is it to describe a per- 
son, on which beauty and gracefulness have been lavished, 
but which I believe never raised in thee a vain idea ! Eyes 
large, full, black, and the most expressive I ever beheld: 
fine dark hair: a faultless nose— but it is in vain to par- 
ticularize every beauty where all is beauty. 

—Two months ago one of the plainest little mortals, all 
awkwardness and sim]ilicity, without a thread of super- 
fluity in her dress, eloped with a caiitain in the army. She 
was just come to town, and her parents, apprehensive 
that a girl of sixteen could not be safely trusted alone 
in a place so full of allurements, guarded her with the 
most peevish caution. Before they heard where she was 
they concluded she was locked up, miirdered, anything 
sooner than in the company of an officer. After much 
difficulty and negotiation a marriage was effected, and 

Mrs. C now makes her entree at public places in all 

the elegance of fashion. And behold the parents, whose 

name is P , are now 'under dealings' for consenting 

to the marriage of their daughter. 'TVhat would you have 
done in such a case?" 1 asked a plaiu-ooated Friend. 
'Done'— replied the benevolent Christian— 'I would have 
cast her off to the contempt and beggary she deserved!' 
'But could you forget she was your child?'— 'Yes, I 
would tear the remembrance of her from my bosom!' 

—We have lately had one admitted into that mysterious 

order: a Miss P . Yet she would not be affronted 

'with the a : it was Miss P celebrated for her beauty, 

wit, and accomplishments ; indeed so immensely sensible, 
that he was thought a bold officer who ventured on her. It 
■was the Hon. Capt. Smith, eldest sou of Lord Strangford 



NEW YORK IN 1778. 237 

of Ireland. All the observation, made upon her since are 
that her eyes are brighter than ever. A pretty m's 

Sir i:f/'"'"T ^™ -^-^ <^^---' eloped with 'I 
±iessian officer for want of a better. Father and nmH,..- 
as usna, inconsolable and inexorable: ' Parents havfln; 
teaits, you know, and children must be wretched.' " 

Under the influences that then prevailed in New York it 
was fashionable to be loyal; and in such social alsemb es 

conTeltrttt A V'"^ '\ f ^^^^^ ^"'^^^^^^^ - ---7 
conceive that Andre would not fail to put forth what power 

of intellectual entertainment he possessed. Indeed lis 

pen was probably rarely idle; and though it is o pra 

nTd tirt Mtl "'' ''''''^'' "-'^ ^-^^^-'^ essay: I W 
no doubt tha he was a constant contributor to the pa-es 

of Rmngton's Gazette. Fortunately we are able toX 
tify at least one of these papers, from which a fair idea 
of his manner mav be infer vpri A+ +i ^ ^^t^^ luea 

n^nr,^ 1 • , / ; mreued. At the mansion of Mr 
Deane he is related to have won the praises of both sexes 
by an extempore upon Love and Fashion, which he deHv 
ered on the evening of January 6th, 1779 nor was a pI" 

hortlv ir i "^7."^ted in Eivington's newspape; 
shortly afterwards ; and it will be seen that the author was 
anything but sparing in his censure of those Amerdns 
who were signalized by severity against the TorieT Chfef 
Justice Mclvean, who presided at the conviction of Car- 
lisle and Roberts, two Philadelphia Loyalists; Livingston 

Portrs of"''' ""'''""''' ''' '' ^''''''''^' ^-d the sup- 
porters of our cause generally, were handled with litt e 

diSd "•' ?f •''' '^"^^"'^"^ ^''-'^'-^^^ — even 
dnected agamst his own former patron and late com- 
mander, Sir William Howe : idle com 



238 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

A DREAM. 

"I was laU'ly in company where the Metempsychosis be- 
came the subject of conversation, and was ably explained 
by a gentleman of erudition, who traced it from the Brach- 
mans in the East, to Pythagoras in the "West, and very 
learnedly demonstrated the probability and justice of this 
ancient system. How was it possible to deny that when 
mankind degraded themselves from the character of ra- 
tional beings, it became proper that they should assume 
the figure of those beasts to whose properties they were 
already assimilated. On the other, how pleasing was it to 
trace the soul tln-ough its sevei-al stages, and to behold it 
rewarded or punished according to its deserts in a new 
state of existence. ]\Iany fanciful observations imme- 
diately occurred to the company. Besides several pair of 
turtle-doves, some cock sparrows, and one or two butter- 
flies whom we found among our acquaintances, we were 
led to take a survey of superior characters. "We enter- 
tained ourselves with viewing the soul of Louis XIV. 
transmigrated into a half-starved jackass, loaded with 
heaA'y* panniers, and perpetually goaded by a meagre 
Frenchman, who, from the most bumble of his slaves, was 
become the master and tormentor of this absolute and uni- 
versal monarch. Alexander the Great, for whose ambi- 
tious views this whole orb had been too confined, was 
changed into a little sorry horse, and doomed to spend his 
life in the diurnal drudgery of turning a mill to which he 
was constantly fixed with blinds over his eyes. Charles 
of Sweden made his appearance in the figure of a Russian 
bear, whilst his wiser competitor was placed at the head 
of a warlike and industrious monarchy of bees. The poeti- 
cal soul of Sappho continued to warble in the character of 
the "Love-lorn Nightingale," and that of our countryman 
Pope (into which those of Homer, Horace, Juvenal, and 



Andre's political essay, 239 

Lucretius had been before blended and transfused) was 
again revived and admired in the melodious Swan of 
Twickenham. 

Full of the ideas which this singular conversation had 
suggested, I retired to my chamber, and had not long 
pressed the downy pillow before the following vision ap- 
peared to my imagination:— 

I fancied myself in a spacious apartment, which I soon 
discovered to be the hall wherein the infernal judges ad- 
ministered justice to the souls which had animated the 
bodies of men in the superior regions. To my great sur- 
prise, instead of those grim personages which I had been 
taught to exijeet, I found the judges (who were then sit- 
ting) to be of a mild, gentle, and complacent appearance, 
unlike many dispensers of justice in the vital air, who add 
terror to severity, and by their very aspect not only awe 
the guilty, but discourage the innocent. At one end of the 
table, after a short interval, appeared a numerous crowd 
of various shades, ushered in and conducted by Mercury, 
whose business it was to take charge of the criminals and 
see the sentences executed. As dreams are of an unac- 
countable nature, it will not (I presume) be thought 
strange that I should behold upon this occasion the shades 
of many men who, for aught I know, may be still living 
and acting a conspicuous part upon the worldly theatre. 
But let this be as it will, I shall go on to relate simply what 
appeared to me, without troubling myself whether it may 
meet with credit from others. 

The first person called upon was the famous Chief- 
Justice McKean, who I found had been animated by the 
same spirit which formerly possessed the memorable Jeff- 
ries. I could not but observe a flash of indignation in the 
eyes of the judges upon the approach of this culprit. His 



240 ■ l.U'K OK MAJOR ANDRE. 

more than savage cruelty, his liorrid disregard to the many 
oatlis of allegianoe ho had taken, and the vile sacrifice he 
had iiiado of justice to the interests of rebellion, were 
opeuiy rehearsed. Notwithstanding his uncounnou impu- 
dence, for once he seemed abashed, and did not pretend to 
deny the charge. He was condemned to assume the shape 
of a blood-hound, and the souls of Koberts and Carlisle 
were ordered to scourge him through the infernal regions. 

Next aiijieared the polite and travelled Mr. Deane, who 
from a truckling, hypocritical, New England attorney, was 
metanioiplioscd into a French marquis, with all the exter- 
nal fripjjcry that so eminently distinguishes the most 
trilling characters of that trilling nation. The judges de- 
libei-ated for a time whether they should form their sen- 
tence from the badness of his heart, or the vanity of his 
manners; but in consideration of the many mortifications 
he had lately experienced, they at length determined upon 
the latter: and the most excellent ambassador to his most 
Christian majesty skipped off, with very little change, in 
the character of 'The monkey ivlio liad seen the n-oiid.' 

The celebrated Gen. Lee, whose ingratitude to his jiarent 
country was regarded with the utmost detestation, as- 
sumed (by direction of the court) the figure of an adder: 
a reptile that is big with veiuun. and ready to wound the 
hand that ]n-otects. or the bosom that cherishes it, but 
whose poison frequently turns to its own destruction. 

The black soul of Livingston, which was 'fit for treason, 
sacrilege and spoil,' and polluted with every species of 
murder and iniquity, was condonmed to howl in the body 
of a wolf; and i beheld, with surprise, that he retained the 
same gaimt, hollow, and ferocious appearance, and that 
his tongue still continued to be red with gore. Just at this 
time, Mercury touched mo with his wand, and thereby 



Andre's political essay. 241 

bestowed an insight into futurity, wlien I saw tliis very 
wolf hung up at tlie door of his fold, l)y a shepherd whose 
innocent flock had been from time to time thinned by the 
murdering jaws of this savage animal. 

The President of the Congress, Mr. Jay, next appeared 
before the tribunal, and his trial was conducted with all 
the solemnity due to so distinjj^uished a charactei'. T heard, 
with emotions of astonishment and concern, that in various 
human forms he had been remarkable for a mixture of 
the lowest cunning and most unfeeling barbarity; that 
having, in his last shape, received from nature such abili- 
ties as might have rendered him useful in his jjrofession, 
and even serviceable to the public, he had, by a semblance 
of virtue, acquired the confidence of his fellow-citizens, 
which he afterwards abused to all the horrid purposes of 
the most wanton rebellion, and that being indefatigable 
in the pursuits of ambition and avarice, by all the ways of 
intrigue, perfidy, and dissimulation, he had acquired the 
station of a chief justice, and, in imitation of the famous 
Dudley, had framed and enforced statutes that destroyed 
every species of private security and repose. In fine, that 
by his whole conduct he had exemplified his own maxim 
that princes were not the worst and most dreadful of ty- 
rants,* and had given a fresh demonstration that power 
could never be well used when lodged in mean and im- 
proper hands. 

The court immediately thought fit to order that this 
criminal should transmigrate into the most insidious and 
most hateful of animals, a snake ; but to prevent his being 
able any longer to deceive, and thereby destroy, a large 
set of rattles was affixed to his tail, that it might warn 
mankind to shun so poisonous a being. 

* See a pamphlet called (I tliink) The Nature and Extent of 
Parliamentary Power Considered. 
16 



*J4'J l.II'K or MA.IOlt ANDIUO. 

Tlif wlidlc ( 'diiliiuMilal Acrny now pjisscd in rcN'icw l>c- 
l"oii> inc. Tlicy were Toiccd lo jml on tlio sliajio of the 
liniid liiiit'. whoso (lis|)osilion tlioy nlrondy possessed. 
Wilh (>jifs (>r(>('t, llioy sooinod walchinsjj tho lirst ai>iiroaoh 
ol" dan,nt>r, and ready to fly even at the apjiroach of it. l>ut 
ulial was very singular, a brass colhir was allixed to the 
neck of one ol" their h-adcis, on wliich 1 saw ilistinctly the 
rollowin,i>; lines: 

■'riicv win lhi> li^lit, thai win tlu' nu'O.' 

Alhuliiii;- to the niaxini lie iiad always ])iirsiied, of making 
n good and timely n>tri>at. 

This timorous ci-cw havinj;' hastily retired, I beheld a 
great and magnanimons I'onnnander of antiquity, trans- 
formed into a game-eoek, who at onee began to erow and 
strut ahout as if he was meditating a eonibat, but upon the 
nppearnnee of a few cropple-c'rowned liens, he dismissed 
l>is ]Mirp(^se, anil 1 could see hiu) at some distaniv from the 
hall, brushing his wing, and rustling his feathers at every 
Pauu> Partlet in the eompany. The oddity of this ti'nus- 
fonnation. and of the eireumstanees attending it. excited 
in me siu'h a disposition to laugh, that I immediately 
awakeneil, and was foreed reluctantly to resign the ehar- 
acter of .( Ihtwucr." 

Andre's conspicuous merit and amiable eharacter had 
soon made him the most important person of Clinton's 
statY. and won the admiration of all who had business with 
the (.leneral. He would promptly inform them whether or 
not he could engage in their atVairs. If he deelined. his 
ivasons were always i>olite ami satisfaetoiy ; if he eou- 
sented. the applicant was snre of an answer from Sir 
Henry within twenty-four hours. Clinton's eoulideuee 
w;is evideneed. in the spring of 1779, by his appoiutiueut 



Andre's favor with cunton. 243 

of Andre, with Colonel West Hyde of tl:e (iiiards, as com- 
missioners to negotiate with the Amerieans an exchanf?e 
of prisoners. Tlicy met Colonels William Davies and 
Rohort II. Harrison on our lu'liall' at Amboy, on the 12tli 
May, and remained till tlie 2.'!rd in a rr-nilless effort to 
agree uj)on tei'ins. 'IMie Americans objected in tlie first 
place that Clinton 's delegation of ]K)wcrs for a genei'al per- 
manent cartel were insufficient. Hyde and Andre thought 
they perceived a design to procure the introduction of 
terms in their commission that might confess the Inde- 
pendence of America, and stood on their guard. A ])res- 
ent exchange was then considered; but here again diffi- 
culties arose as to giving up officers and men together. 
The Americans l\new the difference between the value of 
their own soldiery, whose enlistmcuits were running out, 
and those of the enemy, who would at least serve out the 
war; and no terms were proi)osed by eith<M- side tliat the 
other would accept. The business tlms ended, Clinton de- 
termined to open the campaign of 1779 with a blow at the 
posts on Verplanck's and Stony Points, which commanded 
King's Ferry and the oi)ening passes to the highlands. 
Every step taken at New York was promptly connrmni- 
cated to Washington by his efficient spies in that city ; and 
he had good cause to think the heavy forces now moving 
were not to bo confined in their operations to the mere re- 
duction of these works, but were ultimately designed to 
take ground that would interrupt his communications and 
divide his army. "Washington had his cattle from the 
Eastern provinces," said Clinton in regard to the cam- 
paign of 1777, "and his corn from the Western. Could 
we have taken a position on either of these communica- 
tions we might have risked an action or retired."* If he 

* Clinton MS. 



244 l.Il'K OV MAJOR AXDUK. 

HOW aiiiu'd at West Point, howevor, he was fated to be 
lliwarteil liy tlie active i>rovi(lence of his enemies. 

On the 31st May, Clinton debarked a little below Haver- 
straw, on the west bank of the Hudson, and approached 
Stony Point. As he drew near. Collier with the ]'iiltiire 
and other light war-shi]is.caine also in sight, and the un- 
finished works were with imnlly a show of opposition 
alian(h)iied by tlie Americans. CJuns were at once haled up 
by the Ilritish, and a tire ojK'ned ujion Fort La Fayette on 
Verplanck's, against which \'auglian liad led a column on 
the eastern shore. During the night, the Vulture and a gal- 
ley anchored above the fort, and so cut olf a retreat by 
water. On the following day, imable to return a tire equal 
to what they received, the little garrison beat a chamade. 
Tlie batteries were stilled, and Andre was dispatched to 
receive the surrender. 

"O.N THE Glacis of Fort Fayette, June 1st, 1779. 
His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton and Commodore Sir 
George Collier grant to the garrison of Fort La Fayette 
terms of safety to the persons and property (contained in 
tlie fort) of the garrison, they surrendering themselves 
prisoners of war. The officers shall be iiermitted to wear 
their side arms. John Anokk, Aid-de-Camp. 



> '» 



The possession of these jtosts was of no little importance 
to either army, and Clinton remained on the scene long 

* This transaction was ridiculed by an American writer (per- 
haps Gov. Livingston) in the yew Jersei/ Gazette, 59th Dec. 1770. 
"Sir William Howe could not have invested this insignificant place 
with mow uninoaning formality. No display of ostentatious ar- 
rangements was overlooked on this occasion; and Mr. Andre, your 
aid, as if in compliance with the taste of his General, signed a 
capitulation, in all the pomp of a vain-glorious solemnity on the 
very edge of the glacis, which he had gained under cover of a flag. 
What, Sir llenrv", could you intend by this farce? What excuse 
will a person of Mr. Andre's reputed sense find for this parade?" 



SURRENDER OF FORT LA FAYETTE. 245 

enough to put them in condition for a stout defence. Then 
he left garrisons, and descended the river. On tlie night 
of July 15th, Stony Point was retaken by Wayne. Disci- 
pline, it is said, was so relaxed in the King's army, that 
officers entrusted the password to a countryman who sup- 
plied them with fruit. Having thus a guide, and all the 
dogs in the country round being killed on the day previous, 
lest their barking should betray his movements, Wayne 
silently advanced. The outer sentries were approaclied 
and gagged, and after a sharp but short resistance, the fort 
was stormed and over 500 prisoners taken. These, and 
the glory of an affair which was justly considered one of 
the most gallant things in the war, were all the advantages 
gained by the stroke. Circumstances prevented the re- 
duction of Fort La Fayette. Stony Point was abandoned ; 
and the British put a stronger garrison in it than ever. 

During the remainder of the campaign, Clinton led no 
other expedition in person. The fortification of New York 
was carried on vigorously, and Andre's lal)ors were cliiefly 
those of the pen. To his former acquaintance Miss Ship- 
pen, now the wife of General Arnold, he wrote as fol- 
lows:— 

"Head-Quarters, New York, the IGth Aug. 1779. 
Madame.— Major Giles is so good as to take charge of 
this letter, which is meant to solicit your remembrance, 
and to assure you that my respect for you, and the fair 
circle in which I had the honour of becoming acquainted 
with you, remains unimpaired by distance or political 
broils. It would make me very happy to become useful 
to you here. You know the ]\Iesquianza made me a com- 
plete milliner. Should you not have received supplies for 
your fullest equipment from that department, I shall be 
glad to enter into the whole detail of cap-wire, needles, 
gauze, &c., and, to the best of my abilities, render you in 



246 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

these trifles services from which I hope you would infer a 
zeal to be further employed. I beg you would present my 
best respects to your sisters, to the Miss Chews, and to 
!Mrs. Shippen and Mrs. Chew. I have the honour to be, 
with the greatest regard. Madam, your most obedient and 
most humble servant, John xVndre. 

In March or April of this year General Arnold, com- 
manding at Philadelphia, had, under the feigned name of 
Oustavus, began a secret correspondence with Clinton; 
who committed the matter to the hands of Andre. 
The latter wrote over the signature of John Ander- 
son; and was replied to as "Mr. John Anderson, Mer- 
chant, to the care of James Osborn, to be left at the Rev- 
erend Mr. Odell's, New York." Though at the outset the 
English had no clue to their corresitondent's identity, the 
character and value of his informations soon led them to 
suspect it ; and it is supposed by some that this letter to 
Mrs. Arnold was written with the view of nuiking clear 
to her husband tlie character of its author, and to invite a 
return of conlidence. This may possibly have been the 
case ; but all my investigations show that the lady had not 
any suspicion of the dealings between the parties, or was 
ever intrusted by either side with the least Icnowledge of 
what was going on. Equally false, in my judgment, is 
the charge that she tempted her husband to treason. Her 
purity and elevation of character have not less weight in 
the contradiction of this aspersion, than the testimony of 
all chiefly concerned in the discovery and punishment of 
the crime. 

This correspondence must have engrossed much of 
Andre's time. His letters are said to have been "numer- 
ous and significant:" though there is no reason to believe 
that, so far as Mrs. Arnold was concerned, its limit ever 
exceeded the one just printed. To or from Arnold he at 



COMMENCEMENT OF ARNOLD 's INTRIGUE. 247 

this period liad probably nothing of a precise nature eitlier 
to suggest or require. Tlie earliest communication is said 
to have generally recommended to the American's imita- 
tion the example of Monk, and urged his intervention to 
procure peace on a substantial basis for his unhappy 
country. The distresses of America, the power of Eng- 
land, the superiority of a British to a French and Spanish 
alliance were strongly drawn; and instead of the old co- 
lonial subserviency, it was insinuated that the continental 
affairs of the united provinces should be committed to a 
purely national council resembling the British parliament, 
which should be so connected with the throne that, indis- 
solubly bound together in the chains of equality, of com- 
merce, and of mutual interest, the two lands should peace- 
fully govern all the world.* 

Besides the labor and anxiety of this intrigue, Andre 
had a private uneasiness to employ his mind. In July, 
D 'Estaing had captured Grenada, an island in which much 
of the family estate was invested. The terms offered to 
Macartney were so severe, so re]iugnant to the laws of na- 
tions and the principles of justice, that the governor and 
inhabitants preferred submitting at discretion. On taking 
possession, D 'Estaing showed little lenity. The people 
were plundered and abused to an extent that persuaded 
the Count Dillon— the most distinguished soldier of the 
French command— to intervene at the head of his regiment 
for their protection. This course, in such direct contrast 
to that of De Bouille in like circumstances, threatened 
Andre and those nearest and dearest to him with early pov- 
erty. His General, however, though tenderly attached to 
him, and doubtless entirely s^anpathizing with his private 
griefs, seems not to have left him their undisputed prey. 
In the summer heats he resorted on occasions to the cooler 

* See Appendix No. I. 



248 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

shores of Long Islaud. (Juoguo was one of liis haunts; 
where he would taste the sea breezes, and gather for his 
table every delieaey tluit tbe island could jiroduce. He is 
remembered as a jovial liver, who imslied the bottle freely; 
while Andre with his bright, fresh face and symmetrieal 
iigure, and wearing his hair unusually long, is described 
by an islander in wliose house he passed three nights, as 
presenting "the finest model of manly beauty he had ever 
seen." About this period, too, circumstances brought 
about a considerable amelioration of his professional con- 
dition. It would appear (hat without the knowledge or ap- 
probation of the Commander-in-Chief, the Minister had 
established ce-rtain points of provincial rank very unsatis- 
factorily to the regular cor]is. In bringing about this step, 
Innes, Drununond, and the adjutant-general Lord Rawdon 
—all prime favorites of Sir Henry's— were said to be con- 
cerned. His indignation was great, and the oflfenders were 
made to feel it. Rawdon was detached from head-ijuax-- 
ters to the South, and his duties naturally devolved on that 
one of the deputies of the office who enjoyed the most con- 
fidential relations with Clinton. This was no other than 
Andre. We are told that Major Stephen Kemble. the 
brother-in-law of General Gage, who had long filled the 
deputy's post, had written to some one or other in exces- 
sively severe terms of the conduct of Sir Henry. By some 
mischance those documents were made known at head- 
quarters. The writer of course resigned his office, and 
■went to his regiment (the GOthl in the TVest Indies, where 
he earned promotion and distinction. The vacant deputy 
adjntant-generalcy was forthwith bestowed upon Andre; 
and thenceforward all the business at head-quarters of the 
department passed through his hands. It was thus about 
the beginning of the fall of 1779. that he connuenced the 
virtual discharge of the adjntant-generalcy, in which he 
continued till his death. When Clinton had dismissed 



ANDRE APPOINTED DEPUTY ADJUTANT-GENERAL. 249 

Lord Rawdon, the vacant charge was pressed on Raw- 
don's personal friend, Lieut.-Col. Charles Stuart, of the 
26th, whom delicacy forced to refuse ; wherefore, as chief 
deputy, Andre went on with all its duties until he was 
promoted to the station itself, as well as its responsibili- 
ties. In October, his friend Simcoe was captured, return- 
ing from a daring enterprise to the Raritan, in which by a 
forced march, without halt or refreshment, of over eighty 
miles, his cavalry burned a number of large flat-bottomed 
boats, built for an expedition against New York. Simcoe 
was treated with much severity, which was, by the efforts 
of his comrade Andre, and his courteous and particular 
opponent Harry Lee, at last so modified that he was ex- 
changed. Andre, setting aside for the time a bold but well 
conceived plan for his rescue, wrote proposing he might 
be sent to New York on parole, as by similar indulgence 
Colonel Baylor had been permitted to go to Virginia. Sim- 
coe forwarded this application from the state of New Jer- 
sey, in whose power he was, to Washington, and rather 
complains that as it had ben neglected by Governor Liv- 
ingston, so it was unanswered by the General ; but in a day 
or two after he was sent to New York. Arriving at Staten 
Island, December 31st, he found Clinton gone, and the 
chance of accompanying him lost. A letter from Andre 
was put into his hands— "If this meets you a free man, 
prepare your regiment for embarkation, and hasten to 
New York yourself. ' ' On the 26th, Clinton had sailed for 
Charleston. 

The war-ships and transports of this expedition were 
commanded by Harriot Arbuthnot, Vice- Admiral of the 
Blue, an old sailor, an amiable man, and a bad tactician. 
It is evident that Sir Henry and himself could not pull 
together where the King's service was concerned. He was 
the nephew of "Arbuthnot the polite," the friend of Pope, 



250 UFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Swift, and Gay, the famous physician of Queen Anne, the 
elegant author oi John Bitll;—v:as born in 1711, and died 
in 1794. His flag-ship was damaged by a storm on the voy- 
age;— instead of signalling the squadron to inu'sue its ap- 
pointed course, ho led the whole convoy after himself, to 
the great detriment of the public good. "The good old 
Admiral lost his bobstay in a gale of wind— bore away- 
obliged the fleet to follow. It got into the Gulf-stream, and 
bad weather did the rest."* As a conseqiaence it was not 
until January 31st, 1780, that a part of the armament 
reached Savannah, whither such of the vessels as were not 
lost followed. A captured transport brought into Charles- 
ton, on the 23rd, the first sure tidings of the expedition. 

Notwithstanding the peculiar importance of the city— 
in a manner tlie gate of the South— Wasliington was al- 
ways, it is said, of opinion that evacuation was preferable 
to an uncertain defence. He would rather lose a town than 
an army. The possession of Charleston had hitlierto se- 
cured to the Americans the control of the state ; but since 
Clinton's repulse from its approaches in 1776, care had not 
been taken to make it, as its value deserved, absolutely 
impregnable. Nevertheless its works were strong. Lying 
between the intersection of the Cooper and Ashley rivers, 
it could only be invested by land u]ion one of its three 
sides, where a chain of redoubts and batteries, mounting 
over eighty guns and mortars, and stretching from stream 
to stream, was itself further protected by a double abatis, 
a deep water canal flowing from Ashley to Cooper, and 
other fortifications. The Ashley shore was lined with bat- 
teries with fifty guns ; on that of the Cooper, thirty-three 
were mounted; and across its mouth was a boom com- 
posed of eight sunken vessels, with chains, cables, and 
spars lashed between their lower masts. Five armed ships 

* Clinton MS. 




r 



\ 



SIEGE OF CHARLESTON. 251 

with 124 guns, and some galleys, were arrayed behind this 
cheval-de-frise. The foi-tifications on the island in the liai-- 
bor were also strong and in good condition; and it was 
not thought probable that a hostile fleet could come up to 
the town. 

Having, by aid of the loyalists, obtained horses (all that 
he sailed with being lost at sea), Clinton on the 11th of 
February landed about thirty miles south of Charleston, 
and easily and deliberately approached the city. He 
waited reinforcements, and thus gave Lincoln time to in- 
crease his defences. "Every delay proved of use," says 
Sir Henry; "it induced Lincoln to collect his whole force 
at Charleston, and put the fate of both Carolinas on that of 
the town."* On the 29th of March, the British passed 
Ashley River, ten miles above the city, under the guidance 
of Captain Elphinstone of the navy; and on April 1st 
broke ground before our lines. The fleet meanwhile had 
forced its way up, shutting out relief from the sea; and 
on the 14th, the only communication that had still been 
kept open was closed by the enterprise of Tarleton.f 

The city was defended, as nearly as can be computed, by 
about 2,600 regulars and upwards of 3,000 local or other 
militia, among whom was perhaps Andrew Jackson, the 
future soldier and ruler of the Union. There were besides 
about 1,000 armed sailors; so that the whole defensive 
force was called 7,000. The enemy's strength was prob- 
ably but little greater. "They had 7,000,"— says Clinton, 

* Clinton MS. 

t Captain Eljihinstone had infinite merit from the hour of our 
startinji: from Savannah to our reduction of Charleston; at the 
siege of which he commanded a detachment of the royal navy .... 
This does infinite credit to Col. Tarleton. His officer-) ilce deci- 
sion gained the advantage — the only chance we had of passing the 
Cooper. — Clinton MS. 



252 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

-"we not more than 5000. "t But he does not appear to 
include herein the 2,500 men that reinforced him from 
New York. 

About this time Andre wrote as follows, apparently to 
the adjutant of the garrison at Savannah: — 

"Head-Quarteus before Charleston, the 13th April, 1780. 

'Rtr: I shall be muoh obliged to yoii to find out for me 
whether such a person as is hei'ein described has ever been 
prisoner in your hands, and what has become of him ; as 
I am requested by some of my relations to make this in- 
quiry. I have received your several letters, and shall in- 
form the General of the resignation you make of your pre- 
tensions to purchase Major Van Braam's commission, and 
also of the succession proposed of Ens. Fatio and Mr. 
Clark to Captain Carden. By a letter received from Col. 
Steil T find ]\rr. Do Crousac recommended to succeed in a 
vacant Lieutenancy. I fear this young gentleman has been 
wronged, from his never having been heard of. He 
may however I hope be redressed by filling the vacancy 
of Tjieut. ^[altey, resigned. 

I must bog you to observe that the Fortnight States are 
to be signed by the commanding officer of the troops, and 
not by the De.puty Adjutant General: which I request you 
to be kind enough to rectify in the future ones to be trans- 
mitted. I have the honour to be. Sir, your most obedient 
and most humble servant. 

John Andre, Dy. A. Gen. 

Be so good, Sir, as to omit no opportunity of sending 
convalescents here. A vessel may possibly be sent round 
to receive them— but Gen. Prevost will I dare say in the 
mean time dispatch what he can." 

t Clinton MS. 



SIEGE OF CHARLESTON. 255 

On the 6tli of May the third parallel was finished, and 
the British thus enabled to sap the waters of the canal 
which was then made a cover for their Jdgers to gall with 
close rifle-shots the defenders of the lines; while balls 
bombs, carcasses and fireballs were showered on the town! 
Ihe fire-brigade was in constant service; and wherever the 
enemy saw by the smoke that they had kindled a house 
there they would drop a bomb. As provisions began to 
run short with the besieged, a shell filled with rice and mo- 
• lasses was thrown in delicate raillery into their ranks • and 
m the same spirit was returned charged with sulphur and 
hog's lard for the benefit of the Scots regiments Deser- 
tions were not many, though there were sufficient facili- 
ties tor stealing through the investments to enable Du Por- 
tail to be conveyed into the town after the last parallel was 
begun. Late as it was, this officer advised an immediate 
evacuation; but the wishes of the citizens and the hopes of 
rehet prevailed on Lincoln to hold out. On the 10th 
April he had refused to yield; on the 8th May he was 
again summoned to surrender a post that was rapidlv ceas- 
ing to be tenable. As he would not accept the proposed 
terms, he siege was continued until the 11th, when he no- 
tified Clinton of his willingness to receive them. Thou-h 
It was now, by their own opinion, optional with the English 
to storm the town or insist on its surrender at discretion, 
a milder counsel prevailed. As might be expected, the ca- 
pitulation was disadvantageous to the garrison Their 
necessities and the laws of war entitled Clinton to prescribe 
hard conditions; but the most bitter pill to swallow must 
have been the manner of surrender. Lincoln had demand- 
ed to march out with the honors of war-drums beating, 
colors flying, and shouldered arms. It was answered that 
when the arms were grounded his colors should not be un- 
cased, nor should his drums beat a British or German 



254 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

march.* The garrison, consisting of every adult who liad 
home arms in the defence of the town, became ]5risouers 
of war; and on the 12tli May Clinton took possession. 

The fall of Charleston was a dreadful l)low to America, 
and its results were of the highest importance. That he 
did not yield till the last moment is undoubtedly true, un- 
less we receive Napoleon's axiom that no fortification 
should succumb without at least one assault ; but it ought 
not to have been defended at all, imless successfully. The 
wishes and the gallantry of the citizens and the failure of 
expected succor, apologized foi' Lincoln's fatal error of 
judgment. On the other hand, this event must always be 
esteemed a great credit to Clinton. The siege was well- 
conceived, and executed in the best vein of military judg- 
ment. AVith a force numerically not exceeding that of his 
foe, and with but trifling loss to himself, he compelled 
nearly 7,000 men strongly fortified to lay down their 
anns.t 

After the fall of the city, we are told that there was an 
opinion current in our army that Andre had been present 
in its lines during the siege as a spy; and in 1822 it was 
declaimed that two gentlemen of repute still surviving at 
Charleston, affirmed at least the existence of the report in 
1780. One of these had been an officer of Clinton's; the 
other, a resident of the place through and after the siege. 
Another witness goes further. Edward Shrewsbury, a 
suspected Tory, but of good condition, was ill at his house 
in East Bay. His brother, a AVhig, leaving the lines to 
visit him, found repeatedly there a young man clad in 

* This severity was exactly retorted at Yorktown, when Corn- 
wall is's troops were compelled to march out with colors cased and 
drums beating neither a French or American march. 

t The Kelurn of ju-isoncrs to the army at the surrender, Alay 
l'3th, 17 SO, is signed by Andre, as Deputy Adjutant-General. 
Those made by the Fleet, including seamen, ic, do not figure 
therein. — li'cmfmbraiicer .r, TG. 



A SPY AT CHARLESTON. 255 

homespun, to whom he was introduced as a Virginian be- 
longing to the troops then in the city ; and as such he con- 
sidered the stranger. After the capitulation, meeting tlie 
same person at the same place, he was again j^reseuted to 
him as Major Andre; and taxing his brother with tlie 
identity of the two characters, they were confessed to have 
been one and the same man. To another visitor, his son 
records that the stranger in homesi^un had been repre- 
sented "as a back-countryman, who had brought down 
cattle for the garrison to the opposite side of the river," — 
an assertion that passed unsuspected and unchallenged 
until months after, when Andre had been hanged and the 
visitor who related the story was returned from confine- 
ment at St. Augustine's, when the Whig Shrewsbury in- 
formed him that the cattle-driver he had seen with his 
brother was no other than Major Andre in disguise. These 
declarations, coming from distinct and respectable sources, 
seem to bear the marks of truth; and that the circum- 
stance, if it really occurred, was not singular, appears 
from the case of Col. Hamilton Ballendine, who, in the 
very beginning of the siege, fell into an American picket 
that he mistook for Clinton's. AVhen challenged, he gave 
his name in reply ; and being told that was not sufficient, 
he produced from his pockets draughts of the American 
works that he had made or obtained. He was informed 
of his error as to the party of the captors, and sent to Lin- 
coln, by whose orders he was instantly hanged.* It is 

* It is very doubtful if this be true. McCrady {History S. C. 
in the Revolution, N. Y., 1901) says: "It is scarcely possible that 
such an event would have been overlooked by all the writers and 
diarists of the time, and not have been preserved by local tradi- 
tion; and yet the particularity of the statement, and its ac- 
ceptance by the Animal Register at the time, would suggest that 
there must have been some foundation for the statement." Ham- 
ilton Ballentine (not Ballendine) was a real jierson in Charleston. 
in June, 1775, but there is no record of his subsequent career. 
[Ed.] 



256 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

but just to add that, if this story of Andre's having been 
a spy at Charleston roeoivcMl orcMlenoe in respectable quar- 
ters, it was al'torwaixls (luestionod by gentlemen of equal 
character in our service. 




CHAPTER XII. 




Clinton returns to New York. — Proposed Attack on Rocham- 
beau. — Plans for a Loyal Uprising. — Anecdotes of Andre. — • 
The Cotv-Chase. 

URING Cliuton's absence, the unusual severity 
of the winter had frozen the waters about 
New York so firmly that the whole train of our 
army might safelj- liave passed over. Lest 
such an attempt should be made, the loyal inhabitants pe- 
titioned to be embodied ; and an additional force of nearly 
6,000 men was thus arraj^ed for the defence of the city, of 
whom about 1,000 were armed and uniformed at their own 
cost— "many of the most respectable citizens serving in 
the ranks of each company." There was api^arent need 
for this display when the Hudson to Paulus Hook pre- 
sented a causeway of ice of but 2,000 yards from shore to 
shore ; but unfortunately the miserable state of our army 
prevented any advantage from the opportunity being 
taken. The spirits of the loyalists, however, were wonder- 
fully cheered by these musterings; many deserters and 
others came in from Jersey, where Chief-Justice Smith 
advised Knyphausen now to raise the royal standard, ia 
the idea that militia and continentals would hasten to join 
it, and the state be subdued before Clinton's return and 
without his aid. This plan was tried on June 7th, but 
nothing came of it ; the English returned after some plun- 
dering and skirmishing with a loss of 500 killed, wounded,, 
and missing, and closely observed by Washington's army, 
now reduced to but 3,000 or 4,000 men. 

Leaving 4,000 men with Cornwallis, and Carolina and 
Georgia to all appearance entirely reduced, Sir Henry hur- 

n 



258 



LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 



ried back to New York ; justly apprehending a design of 
the French armament now on the coast to make with "Wash- 
ington a conjoined attack on liis lines. In fact his convoy 
had already been in the power of the French as it passed 
the Chesapeake, and had only escaped by De Ternay 's mis- 
taking the large troop-ships for firstrates. On the 12th 
of July, Eoehambeau's men were in Newport harbor. 

Clinton's first design, to fall at once on Washington or 
West Point, was thwarted by the inopportune and ])ro- 
longed absence of Knyphansen. "This premature move 
in Jersey, at a time when Sir H. Clinton least expected it, 
prevented a combined move against Washington that 
might have been decisive:"— and Washington himself 
wrote that their combination would make the British 
■"equal to almost anything they may think proper to at- 
tempt."* The next thought was to carry the French posi- 
tion at Newport by a coup-de-main. Arbuthnot was so- 
licited, ere yet their arrival was known, to have transports 
in readiness for 6,000 men. On the 18th July, news of their 
position was conveyed to him by Clinton, and means of 
embarkation pressingly called for. These, however, were 
so long in coming, that not till the 27th was the army em- 
barked on the Sound, and conveyed to Huntington Bay; 
where it awaited the return of a vessel despatched by Sir 
Henry to the Admiral blockading the French at Newport. 
Meanwhile Eochambeau had so strengthened his works 
with heavy guns and mortars, and furnaces for heating 
balls, that a joint attack of army and fleet was deemed out 
of the question, and the moment for a coup-de-main long 
gone by. Sorely disappointed and with not a little grumb- 
ling the troops on the 31st returned to Whitestone.f They 

* Clinton MS. Marshall, iv. e. 5. 

t Sterlman ii. 246. — Mr. Stedman seems totally ignorant of the 
object of this move. It had been proposed that 0,000 men 
under Sir H. Clinton should have been hmded in Escort Passage 



ANECDOTES OF ANDEE. 259 

burned for an equal encounter with the French ; and offi- 
cers applied to the adjutant-general as an especial favor 
for such employment. "The General assures you," he re- 
plied to Simcoe, ' ' that the Rangers shall be pitted against 
a French regiment the first time he can procure a meet- 
ing. " These regiments were the Bourbonnais, Soisson- 
nais, Saintonge, and Deux Fonts ; and Lauzun's Legion. 

Among other objects that now commanded Andre's at- 
tention was a correspondence with the chief Tories of that 
loyal region lying between the Chesapeake and Delaware 
bays; which was intended to terminate in the successful 
uprising of several thousand men in arms for the King, 
under the protection of a strong British detachment. 
There were great hopes of this measure when matters 
should be ripe, for the district was populous and unques- 
tionably abundant in loyalists ; but it was nipped by unf or- 
seen events. 

Various anecdotes are preserved that show with what 
gentleness of spirit Andre bore his honors. When Lamb,* 
one of the Convention troops of Saratoga, escaped from 
his officers and from the Americans— "honourable desei-- 

to meet the French on their embarkation [debarkation?] : but 
as the Admiral was not informed of their arrival till ten days after, 
and that they had been reinforced and had had time to fortify, 
it would not have been quite so prudent for the army alone to 
attempt : — and if the Admiral had seen the propriety of taking 
an active part with the Navy, he would have accepted the pro- 
posal of Sir H. C. This is all that need be said, and perhaps Mr. 
Stedman affords us the best reason for not attempting any- 
thing. — Clinton MS. "It was reported some time after that the 
French were in such consternation at being blocked up by a 
superior fleet, that had we proceeded, at our arrival they would 
liave run their ships aground and thrown their guns over- 
board." — MS. Journal, Lt. Mathew, Coldstream Guards. 

* This may have been Sergeant K. Lamb, of the Eoyal Welsh 
Fusiliers, whose "Original and Authentic Journal" about the 
Eevolution was published in Dublin in 1809. 



260 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

tions," BurgojTie called them, siuce instead of being al- 
lowed to go to England as the capitulation provided, Con- 
gress retained them prisoners for exchange— and with a 
party of his comrades was sheltered by the country people 
till he got to New York, he was received at Head-quarters 
by Andre, who taking him into the parlor, closely ques- 
tioned him of his route, his risks, the numbers of the 
Americans, their treatment of prisoners, &c. ; and finally 
rewarded himself and his comrades in Sir Henry's name, 
and proffered them either a free passage home or service 
in any regiment they chose. Of his lenity to prisoners 
also we have a trivial but doubtless authentic anecdote 
from a Mr. Drewy : 

"A foraging party from New York made an inroad into 
our settlement near that city. The neighbours soon as- 
sembled to oppose them; and though not above fifteen 
years old, I turned out with my friends. In company was 
another boy, in age and size nearly my own sj^eed. We 
had counted on a fine chase ; but the British were not to be 
driven so easily as we had expected. Standing their 
ground, they not only put us to flight, but captured several 
of our party; myself and the other boy among them. 
They presently set off with us for New York : and all the 
way as we were going my heart ached to think how dis- 
tressed my poor mother and sisters would be when night 
came and I did not return. Soon as they brought me in 
sight of the prison, I was struck with horror. The gloomy 
walls and frightful guards at the doors and wretched 
crowds at the iron windows, together with the thoughts of 
being locked up there in dark dungeons with disease and 
death, so overcame me that I bursted into tears. Instantly 
a richly dressed officer stepped up, and taking me by the 
hand, with a look of great tenderness said,— 'My dear 
boy, what makes you cry I ' I told him I could not help it. 



ANECDOTES OF ANDRE. 261 

when I compared my present sad prospect with the happy 
one I enjoyed in the morning with my mother and sisters 
at home. 'Well, well, my dear child, said he, 'don't cry, 
don't cry any more.' Then turning to the jailer ordered 
him to stop till he should come back. I was struck with 
the wonderful difference between this man and the rest 
around me. He appeared to me like a brother ; they like 
brutes. I asked the jailer who he was. 'Wliy, that's 
Major Andre,' said he angrily, 'the adjutant-general of the 
army ; and you may thank your stars that he saw you ; 
for I suppose that he has gone to the general to beg you 

off, as he has done many of your rebel countrymen. ' 

In a short time he returned, and with great joy in his 
countenance called out— 'Well, my boys, I've good news 
for you ! The General has given you to me, to dispose of 
as I choose ; and now you are at liberty. So run home 
to your fond parents, and be good boys : mind what they 
tell you ; say your prayers ; love one another ; and God 
Almighty will bless you.' " 

The month of July, 1780, furnished Andre with an oc- 
casion for the best known of his verses, which seem to have 
been written as much to gratify his own keen perception of 
the ludicrous as to retaliate in kind the satirical assaults 
that were made by the other side upon himself and his 
friends. On the 20th, our army was stationed in the up- 
per part of Bergen county. New Jersey; and St. Clair 
having the light infantry during La Fayette's visit to 
Rochambeau, Wayne of course commanded the Pennsyl- 
vania line. With its two brigades, some guns of Proc- 
tor's artillery, and Moylan's dragoons, amounting in all, 
perhaps, to less than 2000 men, he started from camp on 
an expedition that would have long ago been forgotten but 
for the aomic strain in which a foeman commemorated its 



202 lAVK UK MAJOR ANDIIE. 

rosiills.* The objoct was to hai'iy Berf!feii Nook and to 
break up a hlockliouse at Bull's Ferry by Fort Lee, where 
seventy refugees under Cuyler were posted to protect the 
British woodcutters; and to disperse any forces that 
might be found in the vicinity. But Cuyler defended liini- 
sclf most spiritedly, though his wooden walls were ])ierced 
with lifty-two cannon halls in one face only; and when 
Wayne retired, hung on his skirts, seizing stragglers, and 
rescuing some of the spoil. His loss was twenty-one 
killed and wounded; Wayne's being sixty-four. To the 
survivors of "tlu; brave Seventy" the king conveyed his 
especial approval of their valor and fidelity. 

It is hardly needful to ohsei've that this ])oem— wliich, 
says Mr. Sparks, with much that is crude and coarse, cou- 

* The composition ol' tlio Vow-Chase may have been suggested 
by the fact tiiat Andr6 luid boarded with John Thompson, the 
woodcutting agent at New York, lie also probably visited the 
scene of actioii with Clinton, 'i'lic piece was written at Head- 
quarters, No. 1 Broadway, and was given for publication to 
Kivington, whose (Uizetle was a thorn in the side of the Whigs 
of llie neigliborliood. Among his friends he was a merry, jovial, 
companionable person enough; but to his enemies he was a 
perfect pest. The Eev. Dr. Witherspoon, in his pretended recanta- 
tion of Towne, says: — "However, take it which way you will, 
there never was a lie published in I'hiladelphia that could bear 
the least comjiarison with those jiublished by James Kivington 
in New York. This, in my opinion, is to be imputed to the 
superiority not of the printer, but of the prompter or prom])ters. 
I reckon Mr. Tryon to have excel led in that- branch, and ])robably 
he had many coadjutors. What do you think of 40,000 Russians, 
and '^'0,000 Sloors, which lloors loo were said by Mr.- I\ivington 
to be dreadful among the women? — as also of the boats building 
at the forks of the I\Ionongahela to carry the Congress down 
the river to New Orleans? These were swingers." — He made 
great fun too of Governor Ijivingslon, who had imprudently taken 
the ])en against him. "If IJivington is taken, I nnist have one 
of his cars; Gov. Clinton is entitled to the other; and General 
Washington, if he pleases, may take his head," writes Livingston 
in 1780; and if the Cow-Chase was felt nowhere else, it hit hard 
here. Fifty years after Livingston's descendant and bio'Trapher 



THE COW-CHACE. 263 

tains several stanzas of genuine humor and satire— is 
modeled on Chevy Chase. The manuscript copy as well 
as the original editions have several notes, that are dis- 
tinguished here from my own by being put in hi-arkets. 
In retort to the names bestowed on the airs in vogue at 
American festivities, a writ(ir in Eivington's paper sug- 
gested that the managers of the Pliilad(>lphia Assembly 
Balls should thenceforth add to the tunes of Burgoyne's 
Surrender, Clinton's Retreat, and the like, the new danc- 
ing-measure of A Trip to the Block-House, or The Wood- 
cutters' Triumph. 

conimonts on "the scurrilous and abusive Cow-Chase, which no 
one can read without lessening his sympathy i'or the unfortunate 
Andre/' apropos of Stirling who had interniarried witli the 
family. The poem was written and printed at intervals; the first 
canto appearing on the Kith August, the second on tfie 30tli, and 
the third on the 23rd Sept. 1780. Dunlap reports that Eivington 
said he received the last canto from the author on the day hefore 
he set out to meet Arnold; it was published on the very day of 
his capture; which must have contributed to the great vogue it 
has always obtained. I have j)rinfed the version in this volume 
from Andre's original autograph MS., collated with these 
editions: Cow-Chase in Three (!antos, Published on Occasion 
of the liebel General Wayne's Attack of the Kefugees' Block- 
House on Hudson's Kiver, On Friday the 21st of July, 1780. 
New York: Kivington, 1780, 8vo. pp. 69: — and The Cow-Chase, 
an Heroick I'oeni, in Three Cantos. Written at New York, 1780, 
by the late Major Andre, with I'Lxplanaiory Notes by the Editor. 

" The man who fights and runs away, 

" May live to fight another day," 
Said Butler in his deathless lay. 

" But he who is in battle slain 

" Can never rise to fight again;" 
As wisely thought good (^icneral Wayne. 

London; Fielding, 1781. 4to. pp. 32. It is also printed by 
Dunlap, with bis tragedy of Andre, (bond. 1770,) and in Moore's 
Ballads of the lievolulion. 



264 



LIFE OF MAJOR .VNDBE. 



THE COW-CHACE. 








CANTO I. 

Elizabeth-Town, August 1, 1780. 

To drive the kine one summer's morn 

The Tanner took his way ;^ 
The calf shall rue, that is unborn, 

The jumbling of that day. 

And Wayne descending steers shall know, 

And tauntingly deride ; 
And call to mind, in every low, 

The tanning of liis hide. 

^ [General Wayne's legal occupation.] By the way, this order 
may explain the last scenes of the cattle taken: — "One of the 
drafts acquainted with the management of hides and tallow from 
each wing to be sent to the Commissary of Hides at the 
Magazine."— J/iS. Am. Orderly-hook, Aug. 11, 1780. 



THE COW-CHACE. 265 

Let Bergen cows still ruminate, 

Unconscious in the stall 
Wlaat mighty means were used to get- 

And lose them after all. 

For many heroes bold and brave 

From New Bridge^ and Tapaan;'' 
And those that drink Passaick's wave," 

And those that eat soupaan f 

And sons of distant Delaware, 

And still remoter Shannon;' 
And Major Lee with horses rare. 

And Proctor with his cannon." 

All wondrous proud in arms they came ; 

"WTiat hero would refuse 
To tread the rugged path to fame 

Who had a pair of shoes f 

" The present Eiver Ed ere 

" f rS t ?"■ ?'^'^ r '^'^''''' ^^^' °f March. 
LA river m hew Jersey] 

ooroEVrf R°°' "'■■"'=,»'"" "'" »' I-'li"" Com.] The 

of suppawn or mush and milk" imentors 

it'trbe^'n^ner'-^M"'^' ^^ ^^' Pennsylvania line often caused 

mmmmm 

any^equal corps in the service ^''^'' *'"™' *^^° 

'' "They are of a thin, lonir-leoo-erJ Tnakp Tr.n<,+ r.f u -xi 



2()G LIKK OK MA.IOIl ANDRE. 

At six, the liost with swontinar Inift* 

Arrived at Froodoin's Pole:" 
When Wayne, who Ihoiiglit he'd time enough, 

Thus sjieeehitied the whole: 

"Oh ye. whom Glory doth vmite, 

"Who Freedom's cause espouse; 
—"Whether the wing that's doomed to fight, 

Or that to drive the cows— 

Kre yet yon tentpt your fnrther way, 

Or into action eome; 
Hear, soldiers, what 1 liave to say; 

And take a (tint of mm. 

Intenip'rate valour then will string 

Each uervons arm the hotter: 
So all the land shall 10 sing. 

And reatl the (ieuerars letter." 

Know, that some paltry Refugees 

Whom I've a mind to light, 
Are playing h — 1 among the trees 

That grow on yonder height. 

" [ l"'reedom"s — i". c. Liberty Pole. — a long tree stuck in the 
irvoinul.] Its place was between Orangetown and Tinack — MS. 
Am. 0. R. .Vug. •."^. 1T80.] 

" This letter is probably the same printed in Almou's nemem- 
braiurr. x. 3!H\ and credited to the Pennsylvania Packet,, Aug. 
1. 1780. It is from Washington to the President of Congress, 
July Ol>. 1780. and after narrating the story of the espeditiou. the 
failure of the attack on the block-house by reason of the cannon 
being "too light to penetrate the logs of which it was con- 
structed." and the "intemperate valor" of our men that occasioned 
so great loss to themselves, he concludes: "I have been thus par- 
ticular, lest the account of this aflfair should have reached 
Philadelphia nnu-h exaggerated, as is commonly the case upon 
such occasions." 



THE COW-CIIACE. 267 

Tbeir fort and ])l()ek-lionses we'll level, 

And deal a horrid slaughter: 
We'll drive the scoundrels to the devil, 

And 

I, under cover of tli ' attack. 

Whilst you are all at blows, 
From English-Neighbourhood and Tinack'" 

Will drive away the cows. 

For well you know the latter is 

The serious operation : 
And fighting with the Uefugees 

Is only— demonstration. ' ' 

His daring words, from all the crowd 

Such great applause did gain, 
That every man declar'd aloud 

For serious work— with Wayne. 

Then from the cask of rum once more 

They took a heady gill ; 
When, one and all, they loudly swore 

They'd fight upon the hill. 

But here— the muse hath not a strain 

Befitting such great deeds : 
Huzza, they cried. Huzza for Wayne! 

And shouting 

CANTO 11. 

Near his meridian pomp, the sim 

Had journey 'd from th' horizon; 
When fierce the dusty tribe mov'd on 

Of heroes drunk as poison. 

'" [Villages in New Jersey.] Tinack was probably the present 
Teaneck east of Hackensack. 



268 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

The sounds confiis'd of boastini? oaths 

Re-echo 'd through the wood: 
Some vow'd to sleej) in dead men's deaths, 

And some— to swim in 1)1 ood. 

At Irvine's nod 'twas fine to see 

The left prepared to fight; 
The while the drovers, Wayne and Lee, 

Drew off upon the right 

Which Irvine 'twas, Fame don't relate;" 

Nor can tlio INfusc assist her: 
Whether 'twas he that cocks a hat. 

Or he that gives a glister. 

For greatly one was signalized 

That fought at Chestnut Hill ; 
And Canada immortalized 

The vender of the pill. 

Yet the attendance upon Proctor 
They both might have to boast of ; 

For there was business for the doctor, 
And hats to be dispos'd of. '" 

Let none imeandidly infer 

That Stirling wanted simnk; 
The self-made Peer had sure been there. 

But that the Peer— was drunk. 

"It was James. — [Ed.] 

^- [One of the Irvines was a liatter, the other a physician.] Dr. 
William Irvine, after two years' captivity in Canada, now com- 
manded the 2nd Pennsylvania regiment. Brit^adier James Irvine 
■of the militia was, it will be recollected, taken at Chestnut Hill, 
Dec. 1777. 



THE COW-CHACE. 269' 

But turn we to the Hudson's banks, 

Where stood the modest train 
With purpose firm, tlio ' slender ranks, 

Nor ear'd a pin for Wayne. 

For them the unrelenting hand 

Of rebel fury drove, 
And tore from every genial band 

Of Friendship and of Love. 

And some within a dungeon's gloom, 

By mock tribunals laid. 
Had waited long a cruel doom 

Impending o'er their head. 

Here one bewails a brother's fate; 

There one a sire demands ; 
Cut off, alas ! before their date 

By ignominious hands. 

And silver 'd grandsires here appear 'd 

In deep distress serene; 
Of reverend manners, that declar'd 

The better days they'd seen. 

curs 'd rebellion ! these are thine ; 

Thine are these tales of woe ! 
Shall at thy dire insatiate shrine 

Blood never cease to flow I 

And now the foe began to lead 

His forces to th' attack; 
Balls whistling unto balls succeed. 

And make the blocldiouse crack. 



270 LIFB OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

No shot could pass, if you will take 

The Gen'ral's word for true; 
But 'tis a d I)le mistake, 

For every shot went thro'.'' 

The firmer as the rebels press 'd 

The loyal heroes stand. 
Virtue had nerv'd each honest breast. 

And industry each hand. 

In valour's phrenzy'* Hamilton 

Rode like a soldier big, 
And Secretary Harrison 

AVitli pen stuck in his wig. 

But lest their chieftain Washington 
Should mourn them in the mumps,'^ 

The fate of Withringtou to shim 
They fought behind the stumps." 

'^ Wayne attributed his failure to the lightness of his pieces, 
Avliich he thought uuule no impression on the walls of the house. 
In this he was ]n'ohahly mistaken. Sparks" Washington vii. 117. 
Eemcmbrancer x. 2CA. 

" [Viile Lee's Trial.] — "When General Washington asked me if 
I woiild remain in front and retain the command, or he should take 
it, and I had answered that I undoubtedly would, and that he 
should see that I myself should be one of the last to leave the field: 
Colonel Hamilton flourishing his sword immediately exclaimed — 
that's riglil, my dear General, and I will stay, and we will all die 
here on this spot.. . — I could not but be surprized at his expres- 
sion, but obsei-ving bim much flustered and in a sort of phrenzy of 
valour, I calmly requested him,'" &c. Lee's Defence in Trial (ed. 
1778), p. CO.— Harrison also mentioned in this verse had met Andr6 
at Amboy: where this personal peculiarity may have been noticed. 

'^ [A disorder prevalent in the rebel lines.] 

'® [The merit of these lines, which is doubtless very great, can 
only be felt by true connoisseurs conversant in ancient song.] 

For Witherinirton needs must I wayle 

As one in doleful dumps; 
For when hi? legsres were smitten off 

He fought upon his stumpes. — Chenj Chase. 



THE COW-CHACE. 27J 

But all, ThadjBus Posset, why 

Should thy poor soul elope? 
And why should Titus Hooper die, 

Ah die— without a rope? 

Apostate Murphy, thou to whom 

Fair Shela ne'er was cruel, 
In death shalt hear her mourn thy doom, 

— "Auch, would you die, my jewel?"—'' 

Thee, Nathan Pumpkin, I lament, 

Of melancholy fate : 
The grey goose, stolen as he went, 

In his heart's blood was wet." 

Now as the fight was further fought. 

And balls began to thicken. 
The fray assum'd, the Gen'rals thought, 

The colour of a licking. 

Yet undismay'd the chiefs command. 

And, to redeem the day, 
Cry, Soldiers, charge!— they hear, they stand, 

They turn— and run away. 

CANTO HI. 

Not all delights the bloody spear. 

Or horrid din of battle : 
There are, I'm sure, who'd like to hear 
A word about the cattle. 
" See the Irish song in Smollett's Behearsal. 

"Against Sir Hugh Mountgomery 

So right the shaft he sett, 
The grey goose-wing that was thereon 

In his hearts blood was wett.—Chevy Chase. 
The queer American names in the text are not an unfair hit at 
the Zerubbabe] Fisks and Habakkuk Nutters and Determined 
Cocks, whose patronymics are immortalized by Irving. 



272 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDKE. 

The Chief, wlioiu we beheld of late 
Near Sehralenberg haranguing, 

At Yan Vau Poop's'" unconscious sate 
Of Irvine's hearty banging. 

"Whilst valiant Lee, with courage wild, 

Most bravely did oppose 
The tears of woman and of child 

Who begg'd he'd leave the cows. 

But Waj-ne, of sjTnpathizing heart, 

Required a relief 
Not all the blessings could impart 

Of battle or of beef : 

For now a ]n-ey to female charms. 

His soul took more delight in 
A lovely Hamadiyad's"" arms. 

Than cow-driving or fighting. 

A Nymph, the Refugees had drove 

Far from her native tree. 
Just happen 'd to be on the move 

'\\Tien up came Wayne and Lee. 

She in mad Anthony's fierce eye 

The Hero saw pourtray'd; 
And, all in tears, she took him by 

The bridle of his jade.-' 

"Hear"— said the Nymph— "Oh great Com- 
mander, 

No human lamentations; 
The trees you see them cutting yonder 

Are all my near relations. 

'" [Who kept a dramshop.] 

"" [A deity of the woods.] 

-' [A New Enghmd uame for a horse.] 










'> ** * 



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, C^.A/jy /^ 



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^"^ /^-fty^^t^^y le.^/Ct-^'^ 'V<«-»<-^ 



/^^^^.-«. ^^xy^'/C*^^ >»^*V^ .^-^ iJ^,*.^ 










ANDRE'S OFFICIAL LRTTER TO COI. AHRAHAM C. CrYI.KR 
REGARDIJIG THE DEFENSE OF THE BLOCK Hoi'SE NEAR Hl'LL'S FekRY 

From the Emmet Collection. (Never before reproduc-ed ; 



THE COW-CHACE. 273 

And I, forlorn, implore thine aid 

To free the sacred grove : 
So shall thy powers be repaid 

With an Immortal's love!" 

Now some, to prove she was a Goddess, 

Said this enchanting fair 
Had late retired from the Bodies,"'' 

In all the pomp of war. 

That drums and merry fifes had play'd 

To honor her retreat: 
And Cunningham himself convey 'd, 

The lady thro' the street." 

Great Wayne, by soft compassion sway'd, 

To no enquiry stoops; 
But takes the fair afilicted maid 

Right into Yan Van Poop's. 

So Roman Anthony, they say, 

Disgrac'd th' imperial banner, 
And for a gypsy lost the day; 

Like Anthony the tanner. 

The Hamadryad had but half 

Eeceiv'd redress from Wayne, 
Wlien drums and colours, cow and calf, 

Came down the road amain. 

" [A cant appellation given among the soldiery to the corps 
that has the honour to guard his Majesty's person.] 

^' Tliat is, the "lady" had been drummed out of the lines as a 
common drunkard or thief. Cunningham was the Provost-Mar- 
shal. "Tliere are a number of women here of bad character, who 
are continually running to New York, and back again. If they 
were men, I would flog them without mercy."— A. Burr, com- 
mandmg on American lines in Westchester county, to' Gen. 
McDougall: Whiteplains, Jan. 21, 1779. 
18 



274 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDKE. 

All in a cloud of dust were seen 
The sheeji, the horse, the goat; 

The gentle heifer, ass obscene, 
The yearling and the shoat. 

And ])ack-horses with fowls came by, 

Bofoathored on each side. 
Like Pegasus, the horse that I 

And other poets ride. 

Sul)liine upon his stirrups rose 

The mighty Lee behind, 
And drove the 'terror-smitten cows 

Like chaff before the wind. 

But sudden, see the woods above 

Pour down another corps 
All helter-skelter in a drove, 

Like that I sung before. 

Irvine and terror in the van 

Canio flying all abroad; 
And cannon, colours, horse, and man, 

Ran tumbling to the road. 

Still as he fled, 'twas Irvine's cry, 

And his example too : 
"Eun on, my merry men all— for why? 

The shot will not go through!" 

—Five Refugees, 'tis true, were found 
Stiff on the blockhouse floor : 

But then, 'tis thought the shot went round 
And in at the back door.— 



THE COW-CHACE. 275 

As when two kennels in the street, 

Swell 'd with a recent rain, 
In gushing streams together meet 

And seek the neighboring drain : 

So meet these dung-born tribes in one, 

As swift in their career; 
And so to New Bridge they ran on— 

But all the cows got clear. 

Poor Parson Caldwell, all in wonder. 

Saw the returning train: 
And mourn 'd to Wayne the lack of plunder 

For them to steal again."* 

For 'twas his rights to seize the spoil, and 

To share with each commander. 
As he had done on Staten-Island 

With frost-bit Alexander." 

^* Eev. James Caldwell of New Jersey, an active Whig and 
deputy quarter-master general, whose wife was barbarously shot 
by a newly enlisted soldier of Knyphausen's command in the 
preceding summer, on no other provocation, as was alleged, than 
that she vituperated him from her window as he passed. In con- 
nection with this case. Bishop Griswold, of the diocese including 
Vermont, writes at Bennington in 1818: "With what detestation 
is frequent mention made of the British soldier's killing a woman 
in New Jersey. But how rarely, if ever, do we hear oJ the barbarity 

of Col. F , who, in the battle of Bennington, deliberately 

aimed at, shot through the breast, and instantly killed the wife 
of a British officer ?"ll Mr. Caldwell was himself killed by an 
American soldier, Xov. 24, 1781. In proof of his patriotic zeal, 
local tradition relates that when Kny])hauson came to Springfield, 
he collected the hymn-books of his church for wadding to the 
American muskets. "Put a little Watts into them,"f he said to 
our soldiers. 

t See Bret Harte's poem: Caldwell at Springfield. [Ed.] 
Ill cannot verify the Bishop's statement. [Ed.] 
-° [Calling himself, because he was ordered not to do it. Earl 
of Stirling, though no sterling Earl.] He led a foray into Staten 
Island, Jan. 1780, in which .500 of his men were frost-bitten. 



276 LIFE OF ."MAJOR ANDRK. 

In his dismay the fraiitiok priest 

Begau to grow 2>i'^'l'''^'ti*': 
You'd swore, to see his lal)'riug breast, 

He'd taken an emetick. 

"I view a future day," said he, 

"Brighter thau this day dark is: 
And you shall see what you shall see— 

Ha ! ha ! one pretty Maniuis.-" 

And he shall come to Paulus Hook, 
And great atchievemeiits think on: 

And make a bow, and take a look, 
Like Satan over Lincoln. ■' 

And all the land around shall glory. 
To see the Frenchmen caper, 
And pretty Susan tell the story 
In the next Chatham paper."-* 

" [Lafayette.] 

-' There was a lantastio head or statue on Lincoln Cathedral 
called Satau. 

-* Miss Susannah Livingston (born 1748), the governor's 
daugliter, was suspected of political authorship. Perhaps "an 
intercepted epistle to Tabitha from New York," dated Aug. 27, 
17S0, may be attributed to her: 

"Sir JIarrv, it seems, was more sullen than ever; 
And Andre complained of much bile on the liver." 

And again: 

" Alas, my sweet sister, I cannot but fear 
That somethins not good is to happen us here. 
The knight he is either involved in deep gloom, 
"When no one but Andre dare enter his room," &c. 

Though her father had no mercy for "the British scoundrels," 
his house of Liberty Hall was protected in the invasion of June, 
1780, by Lt. Col. Cosmo Gordon: who on account of his sister, 



THE COW-CHACE. 277 

This solemn i)rop]iccy of course 

Gave all mueli consolation ; 
Except to Wayne, who lost his horse 

Upon the great occasion. 

His horse that carried all his prog, 

His military speeches, 
His corn-stalk whisky for his grog. 

Blue stockings, and brown breeches. 

And now I've closed my epic strain, 

I tremble as I shew it ; 
Lest this same warrio-drover Wayne 

Should ever catch the poet !'" 

the dowager Duchess of Gordon and her liusband Gen. Morris, was 
always very civil to the ladies of Lord Stirling's connection. On 
this occasion he promised safety to the young ladies, "so amiable 
m appearance as to make it scarcely possible to suppose they 
are daughters of such an archfiend as the cruel and seditious pro- 
prietor of the mansion"; and in token of the same was presented 
with a rose from Miss Susan's hand. During the day a guard 
was kept at the house; nevertheless from behind it (and by a 
scTvant, it was charged), he himself was shot through the thigh 
the whole business figured in the newspapers. This was the same 
Gordon that slept so soundly at Philadelphia. He got into 
trouble m this e.xpedition ; was tried; and afterwards insisted on 
fighting and killing Lt. Col. Thomas of the 1st Life Guards, who 
had testified against him. Miss Livingston married John Cleves 
bymmes, the father-in-law of President Harrison 

Since this note was written, I have seen a statement printed in 
Eivington s paper, July 22nd, 1780, denying that anv musket was 
tired from Livingston's house, and alle-iuir that the rose was 
bestowed not upon Gordon, hut on Colonel Wurmb of the Hes- 
sian.?. 

=^It has been said that Wayne was brigadier of the day when 
Andre was taken. This was not so. Huntington had that post 
{Mb. Am 0. B); nor was A\ayne of the board that pronounced 
on his late. A biographer however tells us that he was delivered 
to Wayne's keeping at Tappan.f 

t Another error. — [Ed.] 
_ Though the introduction of breeches into burlesque heroicals 
IS sanctioned by the n.sage of poets from King Stephen's days 



278 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

down to tliose ol' Tam O'Slumter, it is possible that Andre here 
had a particular pair as a model: 

"His breeches were of rugged woollen, 
And had been at the siege of Bullen; 
To old King llarrv so well known, 
Some writers held they were his own. 
Tho' they were lined with many a piece 
Of ammunition bread and cheese, 
And fat blackpuddings. proper food 
For warriors that delight in blood." &c. 

—lludibras i't. i c. i. v. 309. 

Under Andre's signature to a MS. of the Cow-Chace are en- 
dorsed, says Frank Moore, these lines: — 

'• When the epic strain was sung 
The poet by the neck was hung, 
And to his cost he finds too late. 
The dung-born tribe decides his fate." 




^Jl^^U^ 



(The final verse iu Andre's writing.) 



CHAPTER XIII. 



^'°S°S'>rr'f '^--'\-.Condilion of American Affairs in 




HL secret correspondence with Arnold, begun 

ni 1//9, had at an early stage been intrusted 

by Clinton to Andre's exclusive nmnagenient. 

.ff 1 ■ 1 , Information received was valuable, and 

from^lt' "TT'' ""■ "'-^^ '' ''^^ qnestioi^able 
trom v^hat quarter it came. In an elaborately disguised 
hand Arnold wrote over the signature of Gustavls,-^ 
pseudonym perhaps suggested by the romantic storC of 
Gustavus Vasa, m whose love of military glory, undaunted 
boldness, and successful revolt against the unw nt d 
lords of his native land, he might persuade himself his 
own character found a counterpart. On the other part 
the fictitious name of Anderson was but a transparent 
play upon Andre's own. The accuracy and nature^,' he 
ntehgence soon gave Clinton concern to know with cer- 
tainty Its author; and once satisfied in his mind that 
this was no other than Arnold, he took his cue fom cir- 
cumstances and delayed the final consummation untiT a 
period when the loss of a correspondent so valuable would 
be compensated by weightier gains than the individual: 
defection of an officer of rank. Thus he continued to re- 
ceive the most momentous revelations of our affairs ; and 
It may possibly have been that through these means a 

I^dTo thff.^'Vn?"?'/' ''' '"^"'^^^^ '' C-«>-'- th-t 
led to the fall of Charleston. It is certain that his slow ap- 

proaci^es after landing were as well calculated to b'lng 

reinforcements to the city as to himself; and it is nof 



280 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

likely that Arnold roiild have borne any very great love 
to Lincoln, who had been raised over his head from the 
militia directly to a continental major-generalcy, and at 
a juncture when the neglect of his own claims by Con- 
gress amounted to little less than a positive insult. If 
we may believe Marbois, tidings of the expected aid from 
France were undoubtedly communicated to Sir Henry, 
with tho additional news that no plans of combined opera- 
tions were to be settled by Washington and Rocharabeau 
until its arrival. This information, concealed at the time 
by Congress from even its own army, was thus made 
known to the enemy; and if Arnold could not in advance 
loll him the precise force to arrive or its intended plan of 
action, he at least might advise him of Washington's ruse, 
and that La Fayette's and Rocharabeau 's invasion of 
Canada was but a false light hung out to beguile the foe. 
On August 6th, 1780, be was appointed to the command 
of West Point and it dependencies ; and it was forthwith 
concerted that his treason should be fully developed with 
the greatest possible advantage to the British.* 

The moment was truly a favorable one. The English 
were weary of the continued strife, and really anxious for 
peace with America on almost any terms that might not 
involve Independency. The mess-rooms no more, as in 
Howe's days, echoed the toast of "A glorious war and a 
long one!" The royal officers now pledged "A speedy 
accommodation of our present unnatural disputes ! ' ' On 
the other hand, America too was tired of the war. A 
cloud of witnesses of the best authority testify to the 

* It is curious that so long before as 1776, Colonel Zedwitz of 
our army entered into negotiations with the enemy almost identi- 
cal with those now conducted by Arnold. The delivery of the 
forts on the Xorth River was the ultimate design of either traitor. 
Zedwitz was guilty; but he was acquitted because tlic court did 
not think his offence merited death! 



PROGBESS OF ARNOLD'S TREASON. 281 

probability of a majority of our people being desir- 
ous of accommodating the quarrel, and of reuniting 
with England on conditions of strict union, if not 
of mediated dependence. The public chest was empty. 
The miserable bubble by which it had hitherto been 
recrmted was on the verge of explosion, and the 
Continental paper money, always really worthless though 
long sustained by the force of laws and bavonets, was 
now rapidly approximating its ultimate value The 
ranks were supplied with children, whose service for nine 
months wa^ bought for $1500 apiece. Hundreds even of 
the staff officers, said Greene in May, 1780, were ruined 
by the pubhc charges they had been forced to incur, while 
every obstacle was opposed to a settlement of their ac- 
counts lest their demands on government should become 
hxed._ However important our cause, or valuable the 
b essmgs of liberty," he continues to Washington, "it is 
utterly impossible to divest ourselves of our private feel- 
ings wmle we axe contending for them."--It is obvious 
that the bulk of the people are weary of the war," said 
Reed m Augiist. "There never has been a stage of the 
war, said Washington, ' ' in which the dissatisfaction has 
been so general and so alarming. ' ' The army ill-paid, ill- 
ted, Ill-clad, avenged its sufferings and its wrongs by such 
means as lay in its hands. Martial law was published to 
procure its supplies in states that had not a hostile en- 
sign withm their borders. Regiment after regiment rose 
m mutiny; nor could the rope or the scourge check the 
devastation and desertion that marked the army's course 
At this very period, despite the repeated sentences of 
courts-martial, and the general orders for the officer of 
the day on his individual authority to flog any straggler 
withm the hmit of fifty lashes, we find in Washington's 
own words the most unwelcome evidences of the neces- 
sities of his followers and their consequent marauds along 



28"2 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

the bauks of the Hudson.* Not until tlio eud of August 
was the pay due in the preceding March forthcoming. In 
September Hamilton found the army a demoralized, un- 
discipliuod mob: disliking the nation for its neglect, 
dreaded by the nation for its oppressions. The descrip- 
tion of an East Indian government, wielding with one 
hand a truncheon while the other was stretched forth to 
plunder, seemed in the fears of many about to be realized 
in our own land. Our chiefs with mortilication and re- 
gret confessed the day impending when, unless the war 
was carried on by foreign troops and foreign treasure, 
America must come to terms. "Send us troops, ships, 
and money," wrote Eochambeau to Vergennes; "but do 
not depend upon these people nor upon their means." 
Yet it was known that the aid of France and Spain was 
merely sporadic; that their finances forbade the hope of 
permanent subsidies. In 1774 neither fear nor flattery, 
we are told, could swell the taxes of France beyond $90,- 

* Without regard to tlio question of the soldier's right to quit 
a service where he is defrauded of liis pay and detained beyond 
the term of his enlistment, it may simply be remarked that at no 
time were the lash and the cord more active than in 17T9 and in 
1780. The many-thonged and knotted cat which cut to the blood at 
every stroke, and the gauntlet, where a double file of soldiers 
anointed the culprit's naked body with blows from one end of 
their lane to the other, were in constant requisition. Flogging 
went beyond a hundred lashes; and sometimes the criminal was 
again and again remanded, that his torn and inflamed back 
jnight be more bitterly rent. As for the death penalty, it was 
necessary in 1771) when our army was in danger of dissolution 
by desertions, to authorize its immediate iniiiction upon any one 
caught in the act. Harry Lee not only hanged the first man 
that he detected in this otTence, but sent his lopped and bloody 
head to Washington. The spectacle had a happy effect on the 
men ; but our ofHcers dreaded the result of its being made known 
to the public. Its repetition was forbidden, and Washington 
ordered a party at once to bury the mutilated corpse ere it should 
fall into the hands of the enemv. — Thacher, 223; Lee on Jefferson 
(ed. 1839), 150; MS. American Orderly Book! 



CONDITION OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS IN 1780. 283 

000,000, to be levied from 24,000,000 of people, and there 
was now reason to fear that, without some great stroke 
on our part, she would soon abandon us as a profitless 
ally, and make her own peace with Britain. 

Congress too, rent by faction and intrigue, no lon-er 
commanded the entire confidence of the Whigs Its rela 
tions with the states were not satisfactory, and with the 
army were decidedly bad. Jealousy on the one hand 
aversion and distrust on the other, daily widened the un- 
ax3knowledged breach. In August it threatened such an 
exercise of its j^ower as drew the warning from Wash 
mgton that if the deed were perpetrated, he questioned 
much if there was an officer in the whole line that would 
hold a commission beyond the end of the campaign, if he 
did till then. Such an act, even in the most despotic gov- 
ernments, would be attended with loud complaints " The 
party hostile to the Chief, deep-rooted in New England 
and pervading Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, which 
from the beginning of the war to its end dreaded lest the 
tyranny of a Coinmodus should lurk behind the wise vir- 
tues of a Pertinax, though foiled in a former effort to dis- 
place him, still retained power to hamper his movements 
and embarrass his designs. It was very evident that his 
removal would be the signal for the army's dissolution 
and the inevitable subjection of the infant state; but it 
was yet feasible to limit his powers, deny his require- 
ments, and m a hundred ways exhibit a distrust of his ca- 
pacity or integrity that would have caused many soldiers 
to throw up the command. 

Much of all this was known to the British. Their intel- 
ligencers appear to have existed in the most unsuspected 
and dangerous quarters ; and at this very epoch public 
officers were betraying trust and unreservedly revealing 



284 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

om- affairs in Now York. Siicli was IToron,* of the Con- 
necticut legislature, who left West Point with a flag on 
the 30th of August, and was i)robably the bearer of Ar- 
nold's letter of that date to Andre. He dined with Ar- 
nold, ]iarted with him on that day, and l)rouglit to the 
English leaders the most im|)ortaut oral information of 
matters in the Highlands and of the coimtry and army 
generally. "Mr. Heron is confident the whole rebellion 
mxist fall to the ground soon from the internal weakness 
of the country, and the still greater weakness of the party 
that have hitherto fomented the troubles, who lose ground 
every day, and divide from each other. All subdivisions 
are for peace with Great Britai)i on the old foundations." 

The reduction of West Point had long been the hoyx; of 
the enemy; but to accomplish it without loss of life would 
indeed have been a triumph for Clinton and a most bril- 
liant conclusion to the campaign. Mr. Sparks has clearly 
maii])ed out the advantages he must have contemplated 
in this contingency. In the first place, the mere acquisi- 
tion of a fortress so important, with all its dependencies, 
garrison, stores, nuigazines, vessels, ifcc, was an achieve- 
ment of no secondary magnitude. The supplies gathered 
here by the Americans were very great, and once lost 
conld not have been readily, if at all, restored. The 
works were esteemed our tower of salvation; an Ameri- 
can Gibraltar, iminegnable to an army 20,000 strong. 
Even though yet imfinished, they had cost three years' 
labor of the army ami $3,000,000; and were thought an 
unfailing and secure resort in the last emergency. But 
the ulterior consequence of its possession were of even 
greater importance. It would enable Sir Henry to have 
checked all trade between New England and the central 
iind southern states. It was, in Washington's eyes, the 

*Williani Heron; See p. 30, Crisis, &e. 



PLANS FOE SURRENDERING WEST POINT. 285' 

bolt that locked this communieation. Tlie eastern states, 
chiefly dependent for their coru-stutfs on their sisters in 
the union, were commercial ratlier than agricultural com- 
munities ; and the jjower that at once commanded the sea- 
board and the Hudson might easily bring upon them all 
the horrors of famine. From Canada to Long Island 
Sound a virtual bai-rier would have shut out New England 
from its supplies, as the wall of Antonine barred the free 
and rugged Caledonians from the Roman colonies and 
the south of Britain. A modern writer, ridiculing the 
idea that the possession of West Point would have been 
really serviceable to Clinton, diverts himself with a pic- 
ture of the hardy New England yeomanry turning out for 
a week to reduce the hostile garrisons and returning to 
their farms in triumph; but it may well be questioned 
whether, with the river at its command, such a post as 
West Point could have been so subdued in a week, or a 
month, or in twenty years. But even these advantages 
were of less moment than those more immediate. The 
French under D'Estaing had already bickered with the 
Americans. It was hoped that similar ill-blood might 
arise in Rochambeau's camp, and be fanned into a flame. 
It was shrewdly and correctly suspected by Clinton that 
the allies meditated a combined attack on New York. To 
execute this movement with West Point strongly garri- 
soned by the British would be impossible; and nothing 
was more likely than that the French should have all their 
jealousies aroused by the defection of one of the most dis- 
tinguished American generals, and the surrender of the 
most important American citadel, on the very ground of 
repugnance to the alliance. Ignorant of the extent of the 
plot, it would be difficult for them to repose in confidence 
with an American army by their side, and a British before 
them and in their rear. Nations get experience by such 
examples as that of Count Julian on the field of Xeres^ 



286 I.IFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

and the failure of tlie cami)aign was the immediate con- 
tingent result of Arnold's success; the dissolution of the 
alliance and the ruin of the American cause not a remote 
one. 

It was supposed that Washington's plan of attack was 
to advance himself upon the lines at Kingsbridge and per- 
haps menace Staten Island ; while the French, lauding on 
Long Island, should threaten New York from that quar- 
ter. To meet and counteract this scheme, Clinton intend- 
ed to receive the surrender of West Point in the very- 
moment when Washington should have fairly resolved 
on his designs, gathered all his necessary stores into West 
Point, and set his troops in motion. Under pretence of 
an exitedition to the Chesapeake, which the Americans 
believed was on foot, the English ships, with ti-ansports 
of a peculiar draught of water properly manned, were 
kept at a convenient place for immediate use; and the 
men destined for the service held ready for embarcation 
at any moment. Of these was the corps commanded by 
Simcoe, from whom Clinton did not conceal his real de- 
signs, and who was accordingly busied in procuring in- 
formation. 

"My idea of putting into execution this concerted plan 
with General Arnold with most efficacy, was to have de- 
ferred it till Mr. Washington, cooperating with the 
French, moved upon this place to invest it, and that the 
Rebel Magazines should have been collected and formed 
in their several Depots, particularly that at West Point. 
General Arnold surrendering himself, the Forts and Gar- 
risons, at this instant, would have given every advantage 
which could have been desii-ed: Mr. Washington must 
have instantly retired from King's bridge, and the French 
trooi)s upon Long Island would have been consequently 
left unsupported, and proljably would have fallen into our 



PLANS FOK SURRENDERING WEST POINT. 287 

hands The consequent advantage of so great an event 
I need not exi^Iain."* 

On the 31st of August Clinton formally asked the 
Kings approbation of Andre as Adjutant-General - 
whose faithful discharge of the duties of that office for 
nearly a twelve-month have made me consider him as 
worthy of the appointment, "f There had already been 
some delay in changing his provincial to a regular major- 
ity: and ministers perhaps thought there was more of 
favoritism than merit at the bottom of all. To remove 
such inference, Dalr>miple, Mathew, and Pattison, who 
went over with this despatch, probably bore oral informa- 
tion from Clinton of what Andre was concerned in The 
details were not yet to be safely trusted on paper to the 
fortunes of the sea. Robertson refers to these generals, on 
the 1st of September, as able to tell everything to the min- 
ister that he was silent about, and on the 21st more plainly 
intimates that government must know what great things 
the General and Admiral were meditating:- "So I will 
only say m general that since the year 1777 I have not 
seen so fair a prospect for the return of the revolted prov- 
inces to their duty. " In London, Mathew and the others 
on their arrival gave out that it was all over with the 
Americans; that news would presently be received of an 
irreparable blow that would ruin them forever Their 
silence after tidings of Andre's death came in induces the 
belief that they had been trusted with and referred to 
Arnold's meditated treason. 

.; ■^^'^•/T '°''''"" *^^ ^'''''■'^^ "^^>' ^a^e been confided in 
the British camp, it was inviolably kept in the American; 
and while Clinton was waiting the motions of the allies to 

fMS. Clinton-s Desp. 31 Aug-. 1780. S. P. 0.; Rec. 14 Oct. 



288 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

strike his blow, news of the total defeat of Gates at Cam- 
den induced him to suspend further steps till it appeared 
what "Washington's course would be. The reports of his 
spies and the force still reserved, convinced him that New 
York remained the object; and Arnold soon confirmed 
this conclusion. For various reasons, however, the plan 
already concerted of moving ujion ^^'est Point was aban- 
doned, and other steps resorted to. It would seem that, 
despite Sir. Henry's language lately quoted, there was 
yet much to be arranged. The time for approach and 
surrender might indeed be settled in the mysterious and 
covert phrase of the correspondence between Anderson 
and Gustavus; but tlie manner of attack, which was of 
course to turn on that of defence, and the price of the per- 
formance, could not be so easily hit upon. From what we 
can gather, it may be inferred Arnold's terms were 
greater than Clinton thought reasonable; and this very 
circumstance may have induced tlie former to insist on an 
agreement beforehand with an authorized agent. On the 
other hand, Sir Henry was desirous (inconsistent with the 
previously concerted arrangement as it may seem) to 
verify 's Arnold's identity, and to settle beyond perad- 
venture the hour and means of his appearance before 
West Point. He therefore agreed to the proposal that 
Andre should be sent to meet him. Meanwhile the corre- 
spondence had been kept up; the following is the letter 
that was perhaps sent in by Heron: — 

ARNOLD TO ANDRE. 

"Aiifjust 30fh 1780.— Sir: On the •24th instant I re- 
ceived a note from you without date, in answer to mine of 
the 7th of July, also a letter from your house of the 24rth 
July, in answer to mine of the I'lth, with a note from Mr. 

B , of the 30th July; with an extract of a letter 

from Mr. J. Osborn of the 24th. I have paid particular 



LETTERS BETWEEN ANDRE AND ARNOLD. 289 

attention to the contents of the several letters; had they 
arrived earlier, yon should have had my answer sooner. 
A variety of cirennistances has ])revented my writing? you 
before. I expect to do it very fully in a few days, and to 

procure you an interview with Mr. M e, when you will 

be able to settle your commercial plan, I hope, agreeable 
to all parties. Mr. M--e assures me that lie is still of 
opinion that his first proposal is by no means unreason- 
able, and makes no doubt, when he has had a conference 
with you, that you will close with it. He expects, when 
you meet, that you will be fully authorized froin your 
House; that the risks and profits of the copartnership 
may be fully and clearly understood. 

A speculation might at this time be easily made to some 
advantage with ready mone;,; but there is not the quan- 
tity of goods at market which your partner seems to sup- 
pose, and the number of speculators below, I think, will 
be against your making an immediate purchase. I appre- 
hend goods will be in greater plenty, and much cheaper, 
m the course of the season; both dry and wot are much 
wanted and in demand at this juncture; some quantities 

are expected in this part of the country soon. Mr. M e 

flatters himself that in the course of ten days he will have 
the pleasure of seeing you; he requests me to advise you, 
that he has ordered a draft on you in favor of our mutual 

fnend S y for £300, which you will charge on account 

of the tobacco. 1 am, in behalf of Mi-. M e & Co., Sir, 

your obedient humble servant, Gustavus. 

Mr. John Anderson, Merchant, 

To the care of James Osborne, to be left at the Rever- 
end Mr. Odell's, New York." 

Translated from its commercial phraseology into plain 
English, this letter teaches us that on the 7th July Arnold 



19 



290 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

had doolarod the probability of his obtaininjr the command 
of "West Point, and the inspection he had just made of its 
defences; and had written again on the loth, when the 
pi'ojections connected with the arrival of the French may 
have been mentioned. The terms on which he was to sur- 
render were also doubtless named. To these Andre had 
replied in two notes ; and, if we may suppose that B. stood 
for Beverly Robinson and J. Osborn for Sir H. Clinton, 
conununications from these were likewise apparently con- 
veyed. It may be easily gathered also that the i)resent 
strength of the garrison both in militia and continentals 
was indicated; and that the feasibility of a coup-de-main, 
and the danger of the troops at Verplanck's retarding 
such an undertaking, was suggested. It will be observed 

that Gustavus writes as agent for Mr. M e: elide the 

dash, and we have ]\Ir. Me ; in other words, himself. The 
reader will recollect Arnold's old \\\o\io—sibi totique: it 
was indeed for himself that he now acted. 

In this letter, the demand for an interview with a con- 
fidential agent of Clinton's— a man of Arnold's "own 
meusui-ation"— with Andre in fact— was repeated: and 
Clinton agreed that the meeting should take place. Sev- 
eral fruitless efforts— two, at least— were made for this 
end. In November, 1780, it was said in London that 
Commodore Johnstone had received a letter from Rodney 
asserting that Andre had twice safely met Arnold, and 
had even acted as his valet-de-chambre : and that the mis- 
carriage was due to Clinton's hesitation to acquiesce in 
and instantly follow out the plans then arranged. There 
seems little foundation for this tale.* 

Rodney arrived at New York on the 14th September 
and, taking command of that station, readily listened to 
Sir Henry's desires: — 

* Absolutely none. — [Ed.] 



LETTERS BETWEEN ANDRE AND ARNOLD. 291 

"At this period, Sir George Rodney arrived witli a 
fleet at New Yorlc, wliieli made it highly probable, tliat 
Washington would lay aside all thoughts against this 
place. It became therefore proper for me no longer to 
defer the execution of a project, which would lead to such 
considerable advantages, nor to lose so fair an opportun- 
ity as was presented, and under so good a mask as the ex- 
pedition to the Chesapeake, which everybody imagined 
would of course take place. Under this "feint I prepared 
for a movement up the North River. I laid my plan be- 
fore Sir George Rodney and General Knyphausen, when 
Sir Geoi-ge, with that zeal for his Majesty's service which 
marks his character, most handsomely promised to give 
me every naval assista;nce in his power. 

It became necessary at this instant, that the secret cor- 
respondence under feigned names, which had so long been 
carried on, should be rendered into certainty, both as to 
the person being General Arnold commanding at West 
Point, and that in the manner in which he was to surren- 
der himself, the forts, and troops to me, it should be so 
conducted under a concerted plan between us, as that the 
king's troops sent upon this expedition should be under 
no risk of surprise or counterplot; and I was determined 
not to make the attempt but under such particular se- 
curity. 

I knew the ground on which the forts were placed, and 
the contiguous country, tolerably well, having been there 
in 1777 ; and I had received many hints respecting both 
from General Arnold. But it was certainly necessary 
that a meeting should be held with that officer" for settling 
the whole plan. My reasons, as I have described them, 
will, I trust, prove the propriety of such a measure on my 
part. General Arnold had also his reasons, which must 



292 



lAFF. OF MAJOR ANDRE. 



be so very obvious, as to make it unnecessary for me to 
explain them. 

Many projects for a meeting were formed, and conse- 
quently several attempts made, in all of which General 
Arnold seemed extremely desirous, that some person, who 
had my particular conlideuce, might be sent to him; some 
man, as he described it in writing, of his oioi mensura- 
tion. 

I had thought of a person under this important descrip- 
tion, who would gladly have undertaken it, but that his 
peculiar situation at the time, from which I could not re- 
lease him, prevented him from engaging in it. Geuei'al 
Arnold finally insisted, that the person sent to confer with 
him should be Adjutant-Geiieral ]\Iajor Andre, who in- 
deed had been the person on my part, who managed and 
carried on the secret correspondence."* 

It was Arnold's wish that Andre, disguised as John 
Anderson, a bearer of intelligence from Xew York, should 
meet him at a cavalry outjiost between Salem and North 
Castle, on the westf side of the Hudson; and he notified 
Sheldon, its commander, that he hoped to encounter in 
this manner a valuable emissary. Of this too Andre was 
informed on the ord of Sejitember. But it was no part 
of the hitter's plan to enter our lines in disguise, and so 
much of the arrangement as contemplated his doing so 
was at once thrown aside. On the strength of Arnold's 
letter, however, he wrote to Sheldon that he would come 
with a flag to the American outposts : 

ANDERSON TO SHELDON. 

New Tork. 7 Sept. 1780.— Sir: I am told my name is 

*Clinton to Lord G. Germain. — Sparks' Arnold, 168. 
t A singular error on Mr. Sarsrent's part — these villages are in 
Westchester county, on the cast bank. [Ed.] 



PLANS FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH ARNOLD. 293 

made known to you, and tliat 1 may hope your iudulirence 
in permitting me to meet a friend near your outposts. I 
will endeavor to obtain permission to go out with a flag 
which will be sent to Dobbs' Ferry on Sunday next the 
11th at 12 o'clock, when I shall be happy to meet Mr. G. 
Should I not be allowed to go, the officer who is to com- 
mand the escort, between whom and myself no distinction 
need be made, can speak on the affair. " 

Let me entreat you, Sir, to favour a matter so interest- 
ing to the parties concerned, and which is of so private 
a nature that the public on neither side can be injured 
by it. 

I shall be happy on my part of doing any act of kind- 
ness to you in a family or a property concern, of a similar 
nature. 

I trust I shall not be detained but should any old grudge 
be a cause for it, I should rather risk that than neglect 
the business in question or assume a mysterious charac- 
ter to carry on an innocent affair and as friends have ad- 
vised get to your lines by stealth. I am with all regard 
Yr. most humble sert. John Anderson. 

This letter rather surprised Sheldon, to whom Ander- 
son's name had not before been mentioned; but it an- 
swered its object of putting Arnold on the lookout, for it 
was at once transmitted to him. He artfully stated a case 
to disarm any suspicion, and directed that if Anderson 
should come to Sheldon's post, notice should be sent him 
by express and the supposed intelligencer escorted to his 
head-quarters. At the same time, on the allegation of 
business connected with his post, he resolved to seek 
Clinton's agent at the appointed time and place. He set 
out from West Point in his barge on the afternoon of the 
10th; passedthenightat Joshua Smith's house; and on 



294 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

tlio morning of the lltli descended nineteen miles to 
Dobbs' Ferry, where Andre waited with Robinson to re- 
ceive him. 

Beverly Robinson was a gentleman of high standing. 
His father, speaker of the Virginia legislature, was an 
early friend to Washington, whose modesty and valor he 
complimented in language that is yet remembered. The 
son was married to a great heiress of the day, the daugh- 
ter of Frederick Philipse, and with her acciuired large 
estates on the Hudson. At this house Washington had 
met and sought to win the younger sister and co-heiress. 
His country-seat in the Highlands, two miles from "West 
Point but on the east side of the river, was a large and 
handsome building surroimded by pleasant orchards and 
gardens and environed by sublime scenery. The Ameri- 
can generals, considering it public property since its 
owner was in arms for the Crown, were wont to use it as 
their own : it was now Arnold's and some time Washing- 
ton's head-quarters. There is a pleasant anecdote of an 
entertainment given at Paris by Marbois to La Fayette 
not long before his death. Americans and others were 
present who had served in our war. At supper, the 
guests were led into a strange, large, low a]">artmeut, like 
a farmhouse kitchen, with one window imd many small 
doors. On a rough table were arrayed large dishes of 
meat and pastry, bottles, glasses, silver mugs, &c. They 
gazed in surprise, and memory faintly struggled to recall 
the scene, till La Fayette suddenly cried out, "Ah. the 
seven doors and one window, and the silver camp-goblets 
such as the Marshals of France used in my yoiith! We 
are at Washington's head-quarters on the Hudson, fifty 
years ago!"* 

*The author is in error in placing this scene at Robinson's house. 
It was really at" Washinirton's quarters at Xewburgh, still stand- 
ing.— [Ed.] 



PLANS FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH ARNOLD. 295 

Robinson's circumspect and cautious character wore 
though noedtul to check the huoy.-.ncy of his comrade., and 
he was likewise fully acquainted witli the pending negotia- 
tions. Indeed it was probably through him that Arnold 's 
first overtures were made. T^ut the large acquaintance 
and interests he had in the region, and his knowledge of 
tlie country, made his presence additionally desirable. 

The interview was to occur on the east side of the river, 
at Dobbs' Ferry; but as Arnold drew near, one of those 
circumstances which the pious man calls Providence and 
the profane calls luck, prevented an encounter that nmst 
m all human probability have resulted in the consum- 
mation o the plot. Some British gun-boats were sta- 
tioned at the place, which opened such a fire on the Ameri- 
can barge that Arnold, though twice he strove hard to -et 
on board, was put in deadly peril of his life and obliged 
to fall back. How this came to pass without Robinson's 
mtervention we cannot imagine; for it is impossible but 
that an intimation from him would have caused the firin"- 
to cease. Or had he repaired with Andre and his flag to 
meet the solitary barge that evidently belonged to an 
officer of rank, an interview might at once have been ef- 
tected m the most plausible manner in the world The 
circumstances of the case would have rendered it easy 
for Arnold to publicly say that he would, since thev were 
thus thrown together, waive the prerogative of rank that 
otherwise might have induced him to refer the enemv's 
nag to an ofScer of an equal grade, and to grant an inter- 
view on shore. The condition of Robinson's estate was a 
ready pretext for even a private reception; and there was 
no obstacle to Andre's being of the party. In the hope 
of being thus followed, Arnold retired to an American 
post on the west shore, above the ferry, where he remained 
till sundown: but no flag came. It is scarcelv possible 
that the statement attributed to Rodney could" have had 



296 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

an actual foinulation here. At all events, he went back 
that night to West Point, and his eoailjntor returned to 
New York. The failure of the meeting can only be ac- 
counted for by sujiposing that the English messengers 
were on the east bank of the ferry when Arnold was fired 
at, and could not interfere in season. They could hardly 
have been on the Vulture, since its boat was lowered to 
pursue the American barge, which it did so far and so 
vigorously as to have nearly captured it. 

Hitherto, these transactions had been conducted with 
comparative freedom, for neither Washington or any 
other oflScer of very high rank being on the spot, Arnold 
was iinder no control but a regard to a])pearances ; and 
he luid plausible reasons to give for every step he had 
taken. But a new meeting must now be arranged at a 
moment when it was known the Chief would be in the 
neighborhood on his route to meet Rochambcau at Bart- 
ford. On the 13th. therefore, he instructed Sheldon and 
Tiillmadge at North Castle to bring Anderson directly to 
him, should he present himself there. The caution was 
needless. Andre had no idea of meeting him elsewhere 
than on neutral ground or on a British deck. According 
to ^larbois* (who is not, however, confirmed by any au- 

* Com plot rf'-lmoM, &c. 91. Marbois was in 17S0 secretary 
here to Luzerne's legation, and for long after French Oonsul- 
General. and Charge. He was of studious and reflective habits 
and sound parts. John Adams thought him one of the best in- 
formed men in France. Gen. Cass says no foreigner ever under- 
stood us so well and few Americans better. His oppc.rtnnities 
were good: his intimacy with the leading men of the day gave 
him knowledge of their views about Arnold, whose business was 
constantly discussed by the allies. All of Arnold's papers too 
were seized, both at West Point and Philadelphia, and apparently 
scattered in various hands. Perhaps he may thus have liad access 
to information or documents now unknown. Certainly some of his 
statements are not easily reconciled with the current history cf 
the time; but it is incredible that he should give, with quota- 



PLANS FOK AN INTERVIEW WITH ARN(„,„. 297 

An old that unless the engaged suiTender was sv.eedilv 
niade cmnnstanees vnight prevent its fuliilhnen td 
called at the same ti.ne for plans an<] papers nedfL If" 
iis guidance. Arnold replied to this eii'ect:- 

"Notre maitre quitte le logis le 17 de ce ,nois TI sor-i 
absent pendant cinq a six iours: profitons pour ar L ^e 
nos dfan-es du tern,>s <,„'il „ous laisse. Venez sans Si 

^siisques et les profits de la s6ci6te. Tout sera pret- 
mais ce te entrevue est indispensable, et doit pre ddt 
I'expedition de notre navire."* ■'Piwxati 

Hardly however, had the discomfited and disappointed 
Andre returned to New York when events took' a new 
turn. There was no longer room for doubt that the ne-o- 
t ation would be speedily and thoroughly effected tL 
chosen few to whom the secret was kn^w/wf e 1 wi h 

not but leflect in their countenances the satisfaction of 
their leaders, and the belief that at length irrepanibl 
-jury was to fall on the American cause. "Le the 
Whigs enjoy their temporary triumph," wrote one of le 
best-informed loyalists about Clinton; "I would hTe 
hem indulged in, as I really think it is one of 1 e its 
they will enjoy." Tradition relates that there were not 

Ces coqums," said Conde to De Eetz Cnnfw , I'ojans. 
.comn.e ils auraient fait eux-n.oniesTnotre pkce " ''""''' '' '''' 



298 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

a few who believed that Andre was engaged in an affair 
that was about to ripen to a head, and from which, if suc- 
cessful, he was to reap honors and reward. A baronetcy 
aud a brigadiership were with good show of probability 
reckoned among his prospective gains. 

There was nothing in the occurrences of the last mo- 
ments which Andre spent in New York to warn him of 
his nearly impending fate. No boding friend or weeping 
mistress presaged evil to his plans; and the times were 
vanished when sagacious attendants brought such provi- 
dent advices as Sir Gyron le Courtois received from his 
faithful squire:— "Sire, know that my heart tells me 
sooth that if you proceed farther you never will return; 
that you will either perish there, or you will remain in 
prison." So far from gloomy thoughts possessing his 
soul, he appears to have in these parting scenes entered 
even more freely than usual into the pleasures of the 
place. Madame de Riedesel chronicles briefly the visit 
she received from Clinton and himself on the day before 
his departure. Nor was this a solitary example. "Where 
now in New York is the unalluring and crowded neighbor- 
hood of Second Avenue and Tliirty-fourth Street, stood 
in 1780 the ancient hoiverie or country-seat of Jacobus 
Kip. Built in 1641 of bricks brought from Holland, en- 
compassed by pleasant trees and in easy view of the 
sparkling waters of Kip's Bay on the East River, the 
mansion remained even to our owfi times in possession 
of its founder's line. Here spread the same smiling mead- 
ows whose appearance had so expanded the heart of Oloffe 
the Dreamer in the fabulous ages of the colony; here 
still nodded the groves that had echoed back the thunder 
of Hendrick Kip's musketoon, when that mighty warrior- 
left his name to the surrounding waves. When Wash- 
ington was in the neighborhood. Kip's house had been 



Andre's last hours in new yoek. 299 

Ms quarters; when Howe crossed from Long Island on 
Sunday, bej,!. loth, 1776, he debarked at the rocky poiiit 
hard by, and his skirmishers drove our people from their 
positions behind the dwelling. Since then it had known 
many guests. Howe, Clinton, Knyphausen, Percy, were 
sheltered by its roof. The aged owner with his wife and 
daughters remained, but they had always an officer of 
distinction quartered with them; and if a part of the 
family were in arms for Congress, as is alleged, it is 
certain that others were active for the Crown. Jacobus 
Kip of Kipsburgh led a cavalry troop of his own tenantrv 
with great gallantry in De Lancey's regiment; and de- 
spite severe wounds survived long after the war, a heavv 
pecuniary sufferer by the cause which with most of th^ 
landed gentry of New York he had espoused. 

On September 19th Colonel Williams of the 80th * then 
billeted here, gave a dinner to Clinton and his staff as a 
parting compliment to Andre. How brilliant soever the 
company, how cheerful the repast, its memory must have 
ever been fraught with sadness to both host and guests 
It was the last occasion of Andre's meeting his comrades 
in_ lite. Four short days gone, the hands then clasped by 
friendship were fettered with hostile bonds; vet nine 
days more, and the darling of the army, the youtliful hero 
o± the hour, had dangled from a gibbet. 

It was recollected with peculiar interest that when at 
this banquet the song came to his turn, Andre gave the 
favorite military chanson attributed to Wolfe,t who sung 
It on the eve of the battle where he died : 

*I can find no Williams of this regiment, or any othei-.-fED 1 



300 LIFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Wli}', soldiers, why 

Should we be melancholy, boys? 

Why, soldiers, why, 

WTiose business 'tis to die! 

For should next campaign 

Send us to Him who made us, boys. 

We're free from pain: 

But should we remain, 

A bottle and kind landlady 

Makes all well arain. 











-•^ 



'Aft-A^ ;' 



/ £»^-*.4i) 






■«?>^1^/ 









-,-X^. 



A ^. 






..C,4 



r /ft.'?^* 



. ;? 



^.^ 7^ 



<Z->7 









,^^ ^.,,. ,^-i' 



ONE OF ARNOLD'S LAST LETTERS. 
From the collection of William E. Rogers, Esq. (Never before printed. ) 



CHAPTER XIV. 




Robinson sent to communicate with Arnold.— Correspondence — 
An^oirV^ *'-^^^j",---Correspondence with Sinton and 
Arnold.-Josliua Hett Smith selected as Arnold's Messenger. 

pE arrival of Rodney on the 14th of Septem- 
' ber had been followed by the receipt of fresh 
communications from Arnold. On the 16th 
Robinson was again sent up the river on the 
Vulture, and that for the future there should be no un- 
timely interruptions from this vessel, its commander 
was measurably instructed in what was going on If any 
omen might be derived from names, the Vulture was a 
lortunate ship for the enterprise. She herself had been 
very successful against our privateers; and thirty-five 
years before we find a band of prisoners, some of them 
detained as spies, (comprising not only the celebrated 
Home, m whose tragedy* Andre had delighted to bear 
a character, but Witherspoon, now active for the Con- 
gress, and Barrow, in arms for the King,) had escaped 
from Charles Edward's hands, and flying from Doune 
castle by TuIIyallan, were received on board the slooij-of- 
war Vulture, Captain Falconer. 

At Teller's Point, about fourteen miles as the crow flies 
from Arnold's quarters, but of course more by way of 
the river, the Vulture came to anchor within easy view 
of King's Ferry and scarcely sis miles from the works 
ot Verplanck's and Stony Points. Hence Robinson on 
the 1/th dexterously conveyed information by a flag to 
Arnold of his presence, and his readiness to aid the nego- 

* Douglas. 



oO'J T,1FE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

tiation. His lot tor was loooivod at Xfriihiuok's by Living- 
ston, and t'orwanlod to head-quarters several miles above. 

.\s liivinsiston jilayed an important though an unwitting 
part in the ruin of the plot, ho may briefly bo noticed hero, 
lie was the same officer who under MontgonuMV had 
borne so active a share in the capture of Andre's regiment 
at ('hambly; an amiable, well-informed young man, per- 
fectly familiar with the Frendi tongue, lie now com- 
manded the chief outpost of "West Point, a work of \in- 
usnal construction, planned by Oouviou, and hardly to 
be reduced without time, trouble, and heavy artillery. 
Hither ho was ordered with his regiment on August 4th; 
the next day after Arnold, under whose command he was 
placed, had been sent to West Point. Chastellux remarks 
on a breakfast the colonel gave him of beefsteaks, tea and 
grog: his larder being as illy supv^lied as his men's ward- 
robe, wlio were sent in because they were the worst clad 
troops in the anuy, '"so that one may form some idea of 
their dross." 

Several persons wore dining with ArnoUl wlien Kobin- 
son's letter was brought in. I'arolessly glancing over it, 
he put it in his pocket, and witliout seoi-eey mentioned its 
I'onfonts which nominally were to ask an interview. 
Among the guests was Colonel John Lamb, the secoud in 
eonnuand. who also had taken part in Andre's cajUure 
at St. Johns, and wliose jaw was broken by a nuiskot ball 
with Arnold before Quebec. He too was a good French 
linguist, and of umdi ]nofessioual skill, but of restless 
genius and a bad temper, said Montgomery ; brave, active, 
and intelligvnt, but very turbulent and quarrelsouie. He 
now ni-ged solid reasons for refusing Robinson's request, 
pointing out to Arnold the occasion such an interview 
would give for snsixH'ting improper communications ; and 
ni>t resting satisfied with a pronuse to consult "Washing- 



KOHINSON SKNT TO ARN()I,1). ;j();{ 

tononthonKm..still]unuulas<vW.^ 

•I'.'t tlio .pu.stum was nuulo and answon.l. Arnol,!, |,ow- 

evo.-, sJH,vy,Hl h>oI,inson's letter to Washino.,,,,, „„ the 

-'o.n.g ol tlu, iStl, as tlH.y <.,.ossed to^eth.; at Kin"': 
l;cuy; and ftTeat must Iian- heen l.is du.^n-in at 11,,. u,^s\- 
tive tenns ui wl.iel, J,e was advised of the Lnproprie y of 
he chief commander of a post .neetin,^ any one ln,„seir 
He nu^^t send a trusty hand if he thoM,,-ht proper, l.nl it 
was better to J.ave nothi,.^. f. ,1,. with business tiiat r.er- 
tamcd to the e.vil authorities. " I had no nu.re suspi'ion 

o Arnod (haul had of myself,'' said ti,e..hi..r in n.h.lin^ 
tliis. tins d,s,.ourse beinj^: in the presence of others ,IIs- 
couraged hnn from a step so pL-,iniy disapprovvd ..f by 
Ins superior. -^ 

There were several eire.nnstanees in this b.ief voyage 

noticed without suspicion at the net, that were after-' 

wards ,,,,lied with fearful signilicaiu,; One waf Ar- 
nold s uneasiness when, after carefully examining f,.,- 
some moments the position of the Vulture, Washim-ton 
closed his glass and in a low tone gave an oVdcr .„ .nade 

to he traitor, whose heart must have quaked lest Jiis 
g..ilt should be their subject. Still more plalpable was li 
contusion when La Fayette turned to him and said- 
General Arnold, since you have a correspoiulence will, 

lu.s become of Ouichen!" The observation had a natur-d 
origin .n matters that had already passed between I'ns If 
and the company; but now to his disturbed conscience 
Jt was pregnant with cause for fear. In a confused and 
hasty manner, he abruptly demanded what La Fayette 
meant by Ins rema.'k; but in a moment recovering him- 
self, he subsided mto silence. l-]re tin. week was otit the 
witnesses of the scene came to the conclusion that for te 



304 LiriC OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

instant he thonglit all was known and his arrest to occur 
on the spot. 

P)Ut no such thing was dreamed of. "Washington and 
his suite passed tranquilly on their way; Arnold accom- 
l)anying them as far as Peekskill, where he had provided 
for their reception and whore he and they passed the 
night of Monday, September ISth. The next morning 
they parted betimes, each on his own course— the one to 
Hartford, the other back to West Point. This was the 
last occasion of Arnold's meeting the man who had dis- 
cerned his merit when it was denied and obscured by his 
first employer, Massachusetts; who had placed him high 
on the ladder of preferment, and had steadily recognized, 
des]nte the clamor of Congress and his subordinates, the 
existence of shining qualities, essential indeed to a general 
but not of universal occurrence in our army; who had 
supported firmly his lawful pretensions against the injus- 
tice of their common masters; and to whose unwearied 
integrity he owed not only his rank but his command. On 
Arnold's part it is but fair to say that I have seen nothing 
save his treason to induce me to believe him one of Wash- 
ington's enemies and maliguers; we know who some of 
these were, and that Arnold was not their friend.* But 
human ingratitude could hardly go beyond this sacrifice 
he was now bent on of all the chief held dear to his own 
baser interests. Washington "went on his way, and he 
saw him no more ; ' ' and with him went happiness, honor, 
and fame. 

On the 15th, Arnold under the usual disguise had writ- 
ten to Andre, but there was probably a delay in the let- 

* In Eivington's GazelU, Dee. lOth, 1TT8, is an assertion that 
Arnold was engaged at that time with Mifflin. St. Clair, and 
Thompson, in an intrigue to remove ^Vashington; but Eivington's 
unsupported authority in such a matter is of little value. 



COREESPONDENCE. 3^5 

ter's transmission. Indeed the manner in which the 
correspondence was all along conveyed is not yet known ; 
though at the time Arnold took command Moody, the 
well-known partisan and spy, was in duress at West Point, 
and his condition seems to have excited the general's 
attention. If relations existed between these two, there 
would be no difficulty in sending messages to any quarter. 
When he answered Robinson's letter on the 19th, however, 
and in general terms declined receiving any communica- 
tions except of a public nature, he concealed within the 
folds of his ostensible note two others of a very different 
tendency. Each of these documents is erroneously dated 
as of the 18th. 

ARNOLD TO ROBINSON. 

Sepiemher 18th, 1780.— Sir: I parted with his Excel- 
lency General Washington this morning, who advised me 
to avoid seeing you, as it would occasion suspicions in the 
minds of some people, which might operate to my injury. 
His reasons appear to me to be well founded; but, if I 
were of a different opinion, I could not with propriety 
see you at present. I shall send a person to Dobbs ' Ferry, 
or on board the Vulture, Wednesday night the 20th in- 
stant, and furnish him with a boat and a flag of truce. 
You may depend on his secrecy and honor, and that your 
business of whatever nature shall be kept a profound 
secret; and, if it is a matter in which I can officially act, 
I will do every thing in my power to oblige you consis- 
tently with my duty. To avoid censure, this matter must 
be conducted with the greatest secrecy. I think it \vill 
be advisable for the Vulture to remain where she is until 
the time appointed. I have enclosed a letter for a gentle- 
man in New York from one in the country on private 
business, which I beg the favor of jou to forward, and 

20 



306 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

make no doubt he will be particular to come at the time 
appointed. T am, &c. 

P. S. I expect General Washington to lodge here on 
Saturday night next, and will lay before him any matter 
you may wish to commimieate. 

GUSTAVUS TO JOHN ANDERSON. 

September 15th.— Sm: On the 11th at noon, agreeably 
to your request, I attempted to go to Dobbs' Ferry, but 
■was prevented by the armed boats of the enemy, which 
fired upon us; and I continued opposite the Ferry till 
sunset. 

The foregoing letter was written to caution you not to 
mention your business to Colonel Sheldon, or any other 
person. I have no confidant. I have made one too many 
already, who has prevented some profitable speeialations. 

I will send a person in whom you can confide by water 
to meet you at Dobbs' Ferry at the landing on the east 
side, on Wednesday the 20th instant, who will conduct you 
to a place of safety, where I will meet you. It will be 
necessary for you to be disguised, and, if the enemy's 
boats are there, it will favor my plan, as the jierson is not 
suspected by them. If I do not hear from you before, 
you may depend on the person's being punctual at the 
place above mentioned. 

My partner, of whom I hinted in a former letter, has 
about ten thousand pounds cash in hand ready for a specu- 
lation if any should offer, which appears profitable. I 
have also one thousand pounds on hand, and can collect 
fifteen hundred more in two or three days. Add to this 
I have some credit. From these hints you may judge of 
the purchase that can be made. I cannot be more explicit 
at present. Meet me if possible. You may rest assured, 



CORRESPONDENCE. 307 

that if there is no clanger in passing your lines, you will be 
perfectly safe where I propose a meeting, of which you 
shall be informed on Wednesday evening, if you think 
proper to be at Dobbs' Ferry. Adieu, and be assured of 
the friendship of Gustavus. 

September 18//..-The foregoing I found means to send 
by a very honest fellow, who went to Kingsbridge on the 
ibtJi, and I have no doubt you have received it But as 
there is a possibility of its miscarriage, I send a copy, and 
am fully persuaded that the method I have pointed out to 
meet you is the best and safest, provided you can obtain 
leave to come out.* 

In his formal reply to Arnold's public letter, Robinson 
enclosed the assurance that he would remain on board and 
hoped that Anderson would come up. Meantime, those 
received were forwarded to New York; and Rodney as it 
would seem was now, on the night of the 19th, called into 
counsel on their consideration. To his active ready-witted 
mind, there could have appeared little difficulty in push- 
ing the business through: and with some reluctance Clin- 
ton whose various capacities of statesman, general, and 
diplomatist combined to tinge with procrastination all he 
undertook, consented that Andre should go with a flag to 

Tnh?*'A^r-'''l J?""''"'"^^"" ^"' ^"'^J and "The Case of Maior 
1^ .. n !l f ^Ij^t'^nt-General to the British Army, who was 

sented. ^Mth Remarks on the said Case. 'If there were no other 
Brand upon this odious and accursed Civil War tLn that s"n^5e 
Loss, I must be most infamous and execrable to aH Po terit ' - 
Lord Clarendon.- New York, Rivington, 1780, 4to. pp 27 This 
ZLhl '™' apparently drawn up with Clinto;'s knowledge bu 
probably never published. The only copy I have seen is madfup of 
the pnnters proofs. The above letter differs from thaT 4ven\y 
Mr .Sparks m containing the words by water in the third" leLn 

o" h "rf J:.r^Tb?" 1'""; J"^ '^°^^^^ section omlltSi 
* Rnffi . The preface to the tracts is dated Xov. -8, 1780 
But this phrase did not refer to our Revolution.-[ED.] 



308 I-HF. OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Dobbs' Feny. But all parties appear to have forgotten 
that adoption of the Admiral's advice involved regard to 
his habits of action ; and it is very certain that he would 
never have sutTered the envoy to go on shore without a 
reasonable assuranee of his getting back again. 

Arrangements were speedily made. Andre wrote to 
TJobiuson and Captain Sutherland of the Vulture, bidding 
them fall down to the Ferry, and was in the end the bearer 
of his own letters. Clinton gave him his parting orders, 
enjoining everything that prudence could suggest, and 
especially charging him to preserve his uniform and to 
avoid receiving papers. On this last point indeed Sir 
Henry was ever x^iecise. In the spring of 1779, when a 
coimnissary was going from Xew York to the Convention 
prisoners at Charlottesville, he was commissioned ^vith 
details for Phillips of the mantruvres at Monmouth. As 
he related them, Clinton sketched some hasty plans of the 
various evolutions of the day; but recollecting himself, 
said— "Clark, you must not take these, for if the Ameri- 
cans find them on you, they'll certainly hang you; there- 
fore only tell General Phillips, that ou that day I fought 
upon velvet: he will fully iinderstand me."* In fact, so 
far as can be judged, no papers from Arnold were needed. 
His letter just given states clearly enough his own eftec- 
tive force and "Washington's: conversation could have 
settled the plan of attack ; and Kobinson and his loyal de- 
pendents must have furnished guides to every gorge in 
the neighborhood of his ancient home. 

Marbois gives a highly colored account of the scene be- 
tween Clinton and Andre ou this occasion; and whether 
imagination or memory supplied its facts, there is a con- 
sistency in this part of his story which commands our at- 
tention, if it does not receive our faith. The interview. 

* See page vl4. 



ANDEE GOES TO THE VULTURE. 309 

he says, w.is insisted on hy Arnold as a condition prece- 
dent to any fiirtlier ar-tion. So far all had prospered to 
his wish. Tliere were heai-d none of those vague, sinister 
rumors tliat usually attend the explosion of a conspiracy; 
never had a design so prodigious more happily ap- 
proached its appointed term. This jirofound secrecy was 
owing to Arnold's care that the matter sliould r-emain 
concealed in his own bosom and those of Robinson and 
Andre; and this was one of his motives for wishing to 
place in no other hands the information needful to bring 
niatters to a head. But on the other part, lie continues, 
Clinton saw more danger than practical advantage in the 
rendezvous. He had previously refused to sanction it 
with his permission, and he now feared lest so many pre- 
cautionary measures should serve only to bring an un- 
luck}r end to an euterjirise that hitherto had progressed 
so smoothly, ))ut in so much danger. Andre, however, to 
whom great siiare of the glory of success must ensue, 
burned with impatience to play his part. He had even, 
says our chronicler, conceived a hope more ambitious by 
far than the seizure of the forts. He thought now to fix 
tlie surrender on the vei-y day of Washington's retui-n to 
West Point, and thus to crown his achievements with the 
capture of our main stay and chief. But apprehending 
tliat Clinton would not view this idea with favor, he con- 
tented himself with the request to meet Arnold for the 
purposes already discussed. The English general at 
length consented; and Marbois pretends to give (in trans- 
lation, of course) the very words he spoke: 

"Mon enfant, ".lui dit-il, "ton entreprise exige encore 
plus de sagesse que d'audace, conduis-la suivant ton desir 
jusqu'a ce qu'elle soit consommee; va trouver Arnold, 
puisque tu crois la cJiose necessaire. Je connois ton 
courage, et, si ta prudence y repond, je suis assure du 



310 UFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

sucees. Va, mon ami, finis d'un seul coup cette guerre; 
ta famille est maintenant Anglaise. Tu seras done compte 
parnii les heros de notre pays, et eelebre cbez tons les 
peuples et dans tous les siecles." 

Eai'ly on the 20tb. Andre started for Dobbs' Ferry, 
whence he proposed to send his letters to the ship. The 
tide was with him, and he determined to push on to where 
the Vulture lay. rather than thwart Arnold's expressed 
wish by altering her position. About seven P. M. he got 
on board in Haverstraw Bay, a little above Teller's 
Point: and the night was passed in anxious expectation 
of the appearance of his confederate. But no signal or 
message came: and morning found him bitterly dis- 
appointed. He feared too that his absence would be noted 
at New York: and that— which does not appear to have 
been the case— he had himself missed Arnold by coming 
to the ship, instead of waiting at the Feny. Unwilling, 
however, to lose the last chance, he made an excuse to 
Clinton for his prolonged stay in a note that might be 
safely read by any of the staff: 

AXDRE TO CLTXTOX. 

On board the Vulture, 21 Sept. 17S0.— Sib: As the tide 
was favorable on my arrival at the sloop yesterday. I 
detennined to be myself the beai'er of Your Excellency's 
letters as far as the Vulture. I have suffered for it. having 
caught a very bad cold, and had so violent a return of a 
disorder in my stomach, which had attacked me a few days 
ago. that Capt. Sutherland and Col. Robinson insist on 
my remaining on boai^d rmtil I am better. I hope to- 
morrow to get down again. I have the honor, &c. 

With this, which was received by Sir Henry on the day 
of its date, was another and more important commimica- 
tion. 



C0R3ESP0NDENCE WITH CLINTON. 311 

ANDRE TO CLINTON. 

On board the Vulture, 21 September, 1780.-Sir: I got 
on board the Vulture at about 7 o'clock last night; and 
after considering upon the letters and the answers given 
by Colonel Robinson, "that he would remain on board, 
and hoped I should be up," we thought it most natural to 
expect the Man I sent into the Country here, and there- 
fore did not think of going to the Ferry. 

Nobody has appeared. This is the second excursion I 
have made without an ostensible reason, and Colonel Rob- 
inson both times of the party. A third would infallibly 
fire suspicions. I have therefore thought it best to re- 
main here on pretence of sickness, as my inclosed letter 
will feign, and try further expedients. Yesterday the pre- 
tence of a flag of truce was made to draw people from the 
Vulture on shore. The boat was fired upon in violation 
of the customs of war. Capt. Sutherland with great pro- 
priety means to send a flag to complain of this to General 
Arnold. A boat from the Vulture had very nearly taken 
him on the 11th. He was pursued close to the float.** I 
shall favor him with a newspaper containing the Carolina 
news, which I brought with me from New York for Ander- 
son, to whom it is addressed, on board the Vulture. I 
have the honor, &c.* 

Andre had boarded the Vulture in the highest spirits, 
confident of success ; nor was even the cautious and cir- 
cumspect Robinson disposed to believe in a failure. In 
fact Robinson was placed in his present position because, 
among other reasons, his character for clear-headedness 
stood as high as his reputation for probity and honor; 
and it was intended that should the negotiation be con- 
summated by Andre rather than himself, he should at 

* MS.—'&iY IL Clinton's Narrative. **Slote=west shore. [Ed.} 



312 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

least exercise a wholesome check over his coadjutor's 
buoyancy. At this moment, neither of them seem to have 
dreainod of leaving the ship; they thought on the con- 
trary that Arnold would come on board, and but for one 
of those unexpected occurrences which, happening from 
time to time to mock the wisdom of the wise and the valor 
of the brave, it is probable that Andre would have re- 
turned to New York unsuccessful but unscathed. It is by 
such means that we are led oftentimes to ponder the say- 
ing of the wise Fabius:— eren^ws stultorum magister. 

Traditional history relates that on the 20th of Septem- 
ber, some young men with their guns came to a farmer 
who was jiressing cider, and called for a draught from the 
mill. Perhaps to get rid of them, they were told that the 
Vtiltiire was anchored in the stream hard by. They went 
on to the shore, and finding it even so, concealed them- 
selves behind the rooks while a white flag, or its semblance, 
was so displayed on the strand as to invite the attention 
of the ship. A boat with a responsive ensign was dis- 
patched—doubtless through Robinson's mediation, and 
hope of comnuinication with Arnold — to see what was 
wanted. So soon as it was within range it was fii-ed on by 
the ambuscade that had adopted this treacherous mode of 
assailing the enemy, and which was enabled by its posi- 
tion to fly to places of security on the first sign of pursuit. 
It is occasion of shame to an American to be compelled to 
relate how treason was thus blindly fought by treason: 
since it was through this unjustifiable atfair that the inter- 
view between Andre and Arnold was induced, and their 
consequent detection occasioned. For besides the device of 
the newspaper, a complaint of the wrong, signed indeed 
by Sutherland but countersigned by John Anderson, sec- 
retary, and in his handwriting, was sent with a flag to 
Arnold on the morning of the 21st. 



SUTHERLAND TO ARNOLD. 3;|3 

SUTHERLAND TO ARNOLD. 

Vulture off Teller's Point, 21 September. -Str- I eon 
sider It a duty to complain of any violation of tl elaws of 
arms, and I am satisfied that I now do it where I an„o 

you thr "'^T"; '' '' "^^^-^^^^ -t^ relucrnee Tg^^ 
vestel T™ '" ^r"' ''''' ' ^'S «f t--e having ifeln 

t' e hore tZ " "^'"""'^ ^""^' ' ''''' ^ '^'^^ ^o^ards 
ic ted t; "\T ^^^"^ «o^-unication was thereby 
solicited. The boat 's crew on approaching received a fire 
from several armed men, who till then hadloeen oncealed 
Fortunately none of my people were hurt, but the tiSch 

froTtrat" "" f *'^^^ "^" ^^-^^ -■« -t --d-ted 
tl om that circumstance. I have the honor to be, &c. 

Let us now turn to Arnold, and see what were his plans 
::^Z. ^^"^'^""^-^-- '^^^ ^e had not dared to trust 

Two miles and a half below Stony Point in a snuare 

rawR":d rr.'^"^^ ''''' ^^"^ ^^-^« - "•^^ h ' - 

Sm!«i Hi' V"'" '' '"'"'^"^^ ^^^^^'^ J««l^"- Hett 

Smith. His general reputation was that of a warm WlnV 

but Lamb, whose wife was a connection, seems to have et 

t m down as a disaifected person, and forbade an^ nti 

macy between the households. In truth he appear to 

h^nLuhT? '' f*^-^" "^^ ^"^ -^«^ thewliid 
himt with the hounds. His brother the Chief-Justice, now 
a warm Loyalist m New York, was said by his felIo;s tl 
^:^'^ till the conquest of Amerfca was deeiLd 
certain. Another brother at London was charged with 

mat :red'T" '""T ^^ "^"^'^''^ ^«— ^^ --a 
man of education and intelligence; and probably was 

ehiefly careful to keep on good terms with whom Lev 

tTon wT'T^'f ■ "'^'^ '" ""'''' ^^ P-^---^l - —illa- 
tion with Bntam on terms then offered, to a continuance 



314 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

of the war for Indejiendeuoe. He was withal a timorous, 
yet a prying, bustling sort of character : delighted to have 
a hand in weighty affairs, but devoid of the nerve to carry 
hiiii with good assurance through their implications. 

Familiar in his social habits, well aciiuainteil with the 
country and its inliabitauts, and a landholder of some con- 
set^uenee. Smith had been usefully employed by the Amer- 
ican general Howe to bring intelligence to "West Point, 
and it was very natural Arnold should, on taking com- 
mand, be soon brought into relations with him. He was 
not long in sounding the character of the man. and re- 
solving to make of him a convenient tool. For though it 
is altogether likely that enoiigh of the affair was coufidevi 
to let Smith perceive he was engaging in an intrigue detri- 
mental to Congress and Independence, it is incredible that 
the whole of the i>ortentous seci-et should be committed to 
such a shallow vessel. But in the friendly intercourse 
that arose. Arnold conveyed to Smith the intention of em- 
ploying him as a go-between to bring a British agent 
within the American lines. "With no other evidence than 
his own. it is difficult to si\y how far the revelations to 
Smith wer^ carried : but the conflicting statements of his 
Trial and his Xorrafire may be accoimted for by the fact 
that in the one case his life was at stake, and he sought to 
make the best story he could for the Americans: in the 
other, he endeavored to vindicate his reputation with the 
English. "With these lights, we may grope a little less 
blindly in the maze of his contradictions. 

Thus it would seem that Arnold had already disclosed 
the groimd he wished to stand on. He inveighed against 
tlie French alliance, and dilated on the unnatural union 
between a destx»tic monarch and an insurgent people fight- 
ing for freedom. He expatiated on the reasonableness of 
the terms proposed by the Commissioners of 177S, which 



JOSHUA IlK'l"!' SMITH. 315 

he averred were in'oCIVrLMl in all sinccrily aiid j^ood fail!], 
and were fully accej)table to the great mass of Americans. 
He insinuated that Jlobinson was the bearer of projtosi- 
tions even more favora))le, and such as could not but 
deserve and receive acceptance. JIc owncnl bis desire for 
l)eace and his weariness of a war in which he had to con- 
tend not only against tlie arms of the enemy, but the per- 
secution of the Pennsylvania govei'nment and tiie entire 
ingratitude of Congress. "Smith," said he, "JHire am I 
now, aft(U' liaving fouglit th(( battles of iny counti'y, and 
find myself with a ruined constitution and this limb" 
(holding up his wounded leg) "now rendered useless to 
me. At the termination of this war, where can I seek for 
compensation for such damages as I have sustained?" It 
is impossible not to recognize in this language that deep 
resentment of real and of fancied wrongs which had first 
bent Arnold's mind to his present course. 

Having resolved that his interview with the British 
messenger should be within the American lines, he fixed 
on Smith's house for the stage, and its owner to conduct 
him thither. I'y Smith's own account, this arrangement 
was made about the 19th or 20th September; but the moi'e 
probable theory of Mr. Sparks carries it back to the ]4th 
or 15th, when Arnold met his wife there on her arrival 
and escorted her up to his quarters. However this may 
he, the upshot of the matter was that Smith consented to 
all that was asked. He took his family to Fishkill, thirty 
miles from his residence and about eighteen from liead- 
quarters, that the house might be empty; and returning as 
directed to Robinson's house on the 19th, received, says 
Mr. Sparks, the necessary papers to pass to Dobbs ' Ferry 
or the Vulture on the evening of the 20th, and bring away 
the expected agent. Smith indeed asserts that Arnold 
himself brought them to his house at Haverstraw : but the 



316 LIFE OF MAJOK ANDRE. 

point is of little consequence. For want of a boat 
or of boatmen, he did not fulfill his commission, nor 
indeed was lie verj- ardent to do so; but he notified 
his emploj'er of the omission by an express during 
the night. It must then liave been Arnold's scheme 
to have passed the day with Robinson or Andre at 
Smith's house, and to have sent him back on the next 
night; for Smith's note found him in bed at head- 
quarters. It would appear that he had rather wished 
Smith to find boatmen among his own tenantry than to 
employ such as jiertained to the regular service; and had 
also arranged for him a protection and a password by 
means of which he might at any time traverse our lines on 
land or water without hindrance. Riding down, however, 
after breakfast to Verplauck's Point, and finding that an 
order on the quartermaster to supply a light boat was un- 
fulfilled, he directed that his own or a barge he had sent 
for should be carried into the creek by Smith's house as 
soon as it arrived. At the same time he received from 
Livingston the letter that had just been brought from the 
Vulture to inform him of Andre's being on board. In 
the afternoon he crossed over to Smith's and prepared 
for the adventures of the night. 

On the preceding day Arnold had given Smith a pass : 

Head-Quarters, Robinson House, September 20, 1780. — 
Permission is given to Joshua Smith, Esquire, a gentle- 
man, Mr. John Anderson, who is with him, and his two 
servants, to pass and I'epass the guards near King's Ferry 
at all times. B. Arnold, M. Genl. 

This was intended doixbtless for his voyage to the Vul- 
ture. On the morning of the 21st, when he learned that 
the excursion had not lieen made, he conceived it possible 
that he might yet have to send to Dobbs' Ferry: where- 
fore an additional pass was given:— 



JOSHUA HETT SMITH. 317 

Head-Quarters, Robinson House, September 21, 1780— 
Permission is given to Joshua Smith, Esq., to go to 
Dobbs' Ferry with three Men and a Boy with a Flag to 
carry some Letters of a private Nature for Gentlemen in 
New York and to return immediately. 

B. Arnold, M. Genl. 

N. B. He has permission to go at such hours and times 
as the tide and his business suits. B. A. 

Smith had relied for boatmen on a couple of his tenants, 
Samuel and Joseph Colquhoun : simple, honest men, he 
says, accustomed to the water, and possessing his confi- 
dence. It required, however, considerable expostulation, 
and the promise of a handsome reward for compliance as 
well as threats of punishment if they refused, ere they 
yielded to his wishes and Arnold's. They were wearied 
already, and they distrusted a night-voyage to the enemy. 
The watchword Congress was given, which would secure 
them from interruption by our guard-boats; and both 
Smith and themselves were assured that the business was 
well understood by the British officers and the American, 
but that it was necessary for certain reasons to keep the 
matter from the tongues of the vulgar. At last they 
yielded, and towards midnight of the 21st, the boat pushed 
from the creek towards the Hudson. No flag was dis- 
played from its bow; but the oarsmen as well as their 
passenger testify that they were told by Arnold and actu- 
ally considered it was a flag-boat to the Vulture. How 
far the fact that it was now an hour when a flag could not 
have been seen if exhibited, and the passes just given, to- 
gether with the ensuing letter, go to justify this assertion, 
the military reader must decide. Both Arnold and Smith 
charged the men to have nothing to say to the crew, — an 
injunction that was probably entirely disregarded. In 
returning, the boat was to make for a place at low-water 



318 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

mark on the west bank of the Hudson, between King's 
Ferry and the ship, being the foot of a mountain called the 
Long Clove. This spot is about five miles from Smith's 
house, and two below Ilaverstraw; and hither Arnold 
proceeded on horseback attended by Smith's negro ser- 
vant also moimted. The letter sent to Eobinson was as 
follows: — 

ARNOLD TO ROBINSON. 

September 21, 1780.— Sir:— This will be delivered to 
you by ^Ir. Smith who will conduct you to a place of 
Safety. Neither 'Mr. Smith or any other person shall be 
made acquainted with your proposals. If they (which I 
doubt not) are of such a nature that I can officially take 
notice of them, I shall do it with pleasure. If not, you 
shall be permitted to return immediately. T take it for 
granted Colonel Kobinson will not propose anything that 
is not for the interest of the United States as well as him- 
self. I am, sir, &c. 

The art of this letter will be observed. Had it been 
intercepted, its writer migiit have been condemned for 
imprudence, but hardly compromised further. It would 
be easy for him to allege a conviction that Robinson was 
prepared to regain his estate at the cost of his honor. 

Their oars carefully muffled with sheepskins, the voy- 
agers passed noiselessly from the creek into the river. It 
was the tail of ebb as they glided softly and unnoticed 
under the shadow of the shore into full view of the works 
of Stony Point ; and as their boat silently speeded along 
with a favoring tide, they drew fresh energ^■ from the 
consciousness of uuinterruption. The skj' was sei'ene 
and clear, and everything hushed and still. Little was 
said on the way. The twelve miles between King's Ferry 
and Teller's Point were soon overpassed, and the spars 



Arnold's letter to robinson. 3^9 

of the vtdhu-e rose in view indistinct through the gloom 
As they came near, they were hailed from the ship, and 
brought to by her side. By this time the tide was . ng 
flood, and the three men stood up in the boat fending oE 
from the T ^ature till Smith was ordered to come on board 
borne rude salutations were passed by the officer of the 

vi^'ifnvl '"^ Vrr^"* ^ '^^^^-^"^ ^VVeared, and bade the 
visitor descend to the captain's cabin. 



I 






CHAPTER XV. 



Andre leaves the Vulture. — Interview with Arnold and its Results. 
— Plans for Return. — Sets out with Smith by Land. 

N entering the oabin Smith was i^olitely received 
by his old acquaintance Robinson who, in full 
regimentals, was probably awaiting Arnold's 
arrival. He was presented to Sutherland, 




who lay ill in his bei'th; and olTered a seat. Robinson 
then proceeded to the perusal of tlie letter; after which, 
apologizing for a momentary absence and ordering re- 
freshments to be brought, he left the room. During the 
fifteen or twenty minutes that elapsed, Smith says he took 
the opportunity of commenting on his rough reception on 
deck. The captain's politeness made him amends, and 
the conversation then turned on indifferent subjects. 

Meanwhile, Robinson and Andre (who was at the time 
in bed) were yjondering on Arnold's letter. As the 
former was not named in the jjass he declined, and prob- 
ably did not wish, to go himself to the shore ; and Marbois 
says that he earnestly urged Andre not to go. For his 
own part, he positively refused to leave the ship; but I 
find no evidence that he questioned the lawfulness of his 
companion's doing so. The letter and passes were ex- 
amined by the three British officers; and they all thought 
that Andre at least might under them seek the shore with- 
out derogation to the customs of war. Nor did the 
feigned name by which he went alter the case in their opin- 
ion, since it was assumed by request of the general issuing 
the safe-conduct, whose authority to grant such docu- 
ments was in this district supreme and unquestionable. 
Andre was therefore not to be balked, nor willing to 



ANDRE LEAVES THE VULTURE. ' 321 

mk the loss of so valuable a prize by refusing the last 
dmnce of coming to terms with the American leader. 
During the night of the 20th, and all through the 21st he 
had anxiously anticipated the expected flag, and was full 
ot tear lest some misadventure had occurred; and on the 
moment of Smith's arrival, he hurried from his bed and 
was impatient to be gone. He evidently considered him- 
self exposed to no other risk than that of being perhaps 
detained by Arnold or by some other American rirtainfj 
he was careful to refuse anything that might prevent his 
claiming from an enemy the privileges of his qualitv. 
Sutheriand suggested that he might wish to lay off his 
regimental coat, and offered him other apparel; but the 
proposal was not accepted. He had Clinton's orders he 
said to go m his uniform, and by no means to relinquish 
his character; and added that he had not the least fear 
tor his safety, and was ready to attend Arnold's messen- 
ger, when and where he pleased. It would certainly ap- 
pear as^ though he at least had contemplated all along the 
plan of going to Arnold if Arnold would not come to 
him. 

When therefore Robinson reentered the cabin he was 
accompanied by Andre, whom Smith had not yet seen and 
to whom, as Anderson, he was now introduced by Robin- 
son with the remark that he himself should not go on 
snore but that this person was authorized bv Arnold to. 
take his place. Andre was evidentlv equipped for the 
journey. Over his uniform was a large blue watch-coat, 
such as might ajipropriately be worn in a September night 
upon the water; and his large boots were visible below 
Whether his surtout altogether hid the clothing beneath 
trom the boatmen may be doubted ; it did not from Smith 
and It is evident they all knew themselves engaged in a 
business that was not without suspicion, though at the 
future investigation they declared the most entire igno- 



322 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

ranoe of everything tliat was not already iu proof. Be- 
fore leaving the ship, moreover, Smith says he told the 
<»aptain of the size of his boat and the probable difficulty 
of returning, and asked for tin- h)an of two oarsmen from 
the crew: which request was denied. T much question 
whether, at the distance of time when this statement was 
published, its exact purport may not have become a little 
obscured. If the demand was made it would probably 
have been complied with, for Andre must have expected 
to return that night; and when as they were about to 
start, Robinson suggested that so large a boat with but 
two oars would be long on the way, and urged that the 
Vulture should send her yawl to tow them as far as con- 
venient. Smith declined the offer lest a water-patrol 
should encounter them, and consider the presence of the 
Englisli an infringement of the flag. In the former 
case, to be sure, the two new men would have been nomin- 
ally covered by the pass; but in either, as it turned out, 
it had been well for the British to have carried out the 
suggestion. No gunrd-boat was in the way; the Vul- 
iure's armed barge might have safely come and gone; 
and two of her seamen in Smith's boat would have 
brought Andre back unharmed and undiscovered. But 
all parties on board seem to have considered it certain 
that Arnold's pass protected him from danger, and that 
he was sure to be returned as he went ; else, says Suther- 
land, measures for bringing him off whenever he chose by 
the Vulture'fi boats could have been easily concerted and 
accomplished. It is indeed a marvel that on such an er- 
rand a man should venture into the lion's den, without 
taking every ])recaution to ensure a safe retreat. Had 
the ship's boat followed Smith's at a guarded distance, 
remained under the shore a few hundred yards off, and 
approached in due season, no suspicion would have been 
excited or discoverv ensued. It was known that the tide 



ANDRE LEAVES THE VULTURE. 323 

would be Strongly against a return, and it is not lilcely th-it 
Snnth dKl not name the conspicuous place whither he was 
now to steer: a place far below the American Hnes The 
ateness of the nzght with these other circumstance 'wouM 
have almos compelled an astute officer to insist th t is 
own boat should appear with a sufficient crew at a con 
certed place and time. Happily for America tlifwas not 

ZIT' 'T^ '' " '"■ '^-"^^ ""l^'-«'-b»« that the hie 
actoi were oo much excited and confused to give suf- 

taldng. '' *'' """^^^ emergencies of the' under- 

chat w h the Colquhouns were now ordered out; and 
tabng l>e helm Snnth pushed away. Little was saii, and 
«iat b.xt about the tide and the weather, as he conveyed 
Andre to the Long Clove. Pie indeed alleges that he Ld 
mentmned that he was to bring his companion to his own 
house and that a horse was provided at the shore for this 
end; but 1 IS probable Arnold had nevertheless some no- 
lon of settlmg all the business at the water-side, though 
lie provided for another contingency, men the boat 
cached the strand Smith left it, and picking his way 
hrough the darkness found Arnold at an appofnted pS 
higher up the bank in the concealment of the trees- "he 
was hid among the firs," says Smith with emphasis. When 
told of the result of the mission and that Robinson's dele- 
gate, whose youth and gentleness had not argued the pos- 
session of a weighty trust, was in waiting below, he exhib- 
ited great agitation and expressed a regret that Robinson 
himself had not come; but bade the stranger to be lead to 
mm. Ihis done, Smith was requested to retire to the boat 
and leave them together. The wearied oarsmen sank into 
slumber while their landlord, his vanity evidently chafing 
at his exclusion from the conversation, and his body 



324 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

treml)ling with ague, uneasily awaited on the shingle the 
termination of the interview. When the night began to 
wane he at last went back and warned the conspirators 
that it was time to be moving. He indeed declares that 
both Arnold and Andre joined with him in importuning 
the boatmen to return once more to the Vulture; and that 
they refused not only because of their fatigue, but because 
daybreak would overtake them ou the way, and arrange- 
ments had been made to cannonade the vessel as soon as 
it was light. "You can reach the ship, and be far 
enough," said Andre, by Smith's account, "before that 
can happen; and the same flag that carried you to the 
ship will make you safe on your return to General 
Arnold's command." This indeed may have been said 
by or to Smith himself; but the boatmen testified that 
they saw nothing of Arnold or of Andre after the land- 
ing: that a noise in the thicket was all they heard; and 
that Smith's persuasions for them to go back were very 
languid. 

It is clear that the arrangements were not yet finished, 
or else that Smith was ignorant of the momentous nature 
of the affair he was now involved in. His influence might 
undoubtedly have compelled the men to return; and had 
he fully perceived the importance of so doing, he surely 
would have exercised it. Even were the trip concluded in 
daylight, it would have been safer for him, had he known 
all, to have had the men detained with the boat on the 
Vulture till a week had elapsed and the plot fulfilled. 
Perhaps he was a little sullen at the cavalier treatment he 
had received, and indifferent to Andre's concern for re- 
treat. But 'Sir. Sparks is of opinion that the true reason 
for Andre's not going back this night was the unfinished 
condition of the business. I take it, however, that it was 
just one of those cases in which men are governed by the 




"THE FIRS." 
Meeting place of Arnold and Andr^. 



INTERVIEW WITH AENOLD AND ITS RESULTS. 325 

circumstances of tlie moment: that were the Colquhouns 
willing Andre had been sent back ; but as they were not 
so, and as there were motives for prolonging the inter- 
view, Arnold did not press them. For though he might 
have here given Andre the papers afterwards found upon 
him, and the principal details of the manoeuvres to be exe- 
cuted by Clinton, it was impossible in the darkness to 
thoroughly explain the details. He had brought from 
head-quarters on the morning of the 21st the large official 
plans of the general works at West Point and of each 
jjarticular work, that were prepared by the engineer Du- 
portail. It was hardly possible, even with a dark lantern, 
to examine these in the place where he was. He might 
have had them with him to give to Andre if he returned 
to the Vulture: more probably they were left at Smith's 
house to be exhibited and explained at greater leisure. As 
matters now stood, therefore. Smith and his men took the 
boat back towards their starting-place, while the horse 
his negro servant had ridden was mounted by Andre, who 
in company with Arnold hastened to the house, three or 
four miles distant. 

As they passed from the woods by the water into the 
main road, the sky was still dark with that peculiar gloom 
which precedes the dawn. Midway on their path lay the 
little hamlet of Haverstraw. It must be remembered 
that, as we have every reason to believe, it was Andre's 
wish and stipulation that he should not be taken within 
any of our posts. Now, as he entered Haverstraw, the 
hoarse challenge of the sentry* was the first intimation 
he had that his design was to this extent thwarted. Mr. 
Cooper (by what authority unless La Fayette's I know 

* He belonged to Spencer's regiment, often called the .5th Bat- 
talion of the Jersey Line. The regiment furnished the sentries 
that night, and was at the time commanded by its Major, John 
Burrowes. 



326 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

not) says Andre confessed afterwards that on this inter- 
ruption he thoiijyht liimsolf lost. La Fayette forty years 
Uitcr seems to have stated as an opinion current in 
the army at the time, that Arnold had posted guards here 
where none for some time were before, to give color to the 
declaration, should he be detected, that his only motive 
was to decoy and secure an enemy; and Hamilton refers 
to the existence of the same notion. This theory, if car- 
ried beyond a very narrow bound, is confuted by the other 
lacts of the case. Marbois remarks also on Andre's dis- 
pleasure at this encounter: but it was now too late to com- 
plain. Smothering his resentment he followed Arnold 
to Smith's house, where they arrived in the gray of the 
morning of the 22nd. Some little space after, the owner 
of the mansion appeared. 

The unusual occurrence of an enemy's ship lingering 
so long in their neighborhood had roused the fears and 
the anger of the inhabitants and the troops at Verplanck's. 
Her position was accurately reported to the commander. 
She was moored under Teller's Point, a large tongue of 
laud which projects from the eastern shore into the Hud- 
son on the north side of the mouth of the Croton River; 
and so near to the bank that she touched bottom at low 
water. Livingston therefore had applied to Arnold for 
two heavy guns, with which he was confident he could sink 
her; but the request was evasively denied. He then on 
his own responsibility carried a four-pounder to a lesser 
promontory of Teller's, known as Gallows Point;* and 

*It has has always been opinion (see my Crisis of the Bevohdion, 
note p. 13) that the attack on the Vulture was of more importance 
in itself, (aside from its important results) than the slight men- 
tion of it in any history would indicate: yet up to the present 
time 1 have been unable to ascertain anything new about it. Xow, 
through tlie kindness of Professor Basliford Dean, of Columbia 
University, I am enabled to present a transcript of the log-hnok 
of the Vttlture for the several days which concern Andre. The 



INTERVIEW WITH ARNOLD AND ITS RESULTS. 327 

at daylight of the 22nd, taking advantage of the moment 
ot low tide, commenced such an incessant discharge on 
the vessel that for a time she "appeared to be set on fire-" 
and had she not floated off with the flood and dropped 
down beyond range, she probably would have been taken. 
Attracted by the noise, Andre repaired to a window which 
commanded a view of the Vnlture, and gazed painfully at 
her as she passed down the stream. He did not attempt 
to hide from his companions his annoyance at her chan-e 
of place: but lireakfast being served, the three sat down 
together with a show of tranquillity. The conversation 
turned on Arbuthnot and the fleet; the royal army and its 
condition; nothing of a particular nature was said on 
any side. After breakfast, Arnold and Andre retired 
to an upper chamber where, secure from interruption 
they were closeted for hours arranging the details of 
their affair. 

Without a certain knowledge of what transpired we 
are still enabled to follow with comparative confidence the 
line of engagements entered into. On the one liand, 

vessel herself has an interesting history. She was a verv old craft' 

las th, if""'"' '""^' ^^''' ''' ''''' ^^'i ^' i« ^PP^^^^t that he 
wa.^actually m service up to 1814, the last entry being June 24, 

She arrived in the Hudson June 13, 1780, and remained there 
up to^ovember 7, when the log-entries by Captain Andrew Suth- 
erland cease, and a new commander. Captain Morgan Lancdiam 
appears who in his turn is followed by Charles Stirling, December 

entriolfn tbi" 7' -T °° 'P'""^ '""^'^''^ i^ the vessel. The 
entries m tne captain s log are- 

Wedjda,, ^^0 Sept., 1780 N. E. wind, fresh breezes and cloudv. 

0,- ; VT T^^^- ^''''■'' t^^ ^''"^^'■- ^™ed sloop. People 
(t. «., the crew) variously employed. A. J/._emploved as be- 

gunJg'-lEB.]'"'' *° ^^-Pl^-^-k's Point, exerising at the 

Thursday 21st. Yari^able wind, do. weather. P. M. employed 

w thlFi; >f '' \° ''"l' '"'' ^°^t t° Verplank'sVoS . 
V ith a Flagg of truce. People employed as before. 



328 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Arnold was perfectly aware of the value of what he was 
to give up, and expected to be paid handsomely. Clinton 
was as willing to buy as he to sell: he was, in his own 
words, ready to conclude the bargain "at every risk and 
at any cost." Long-time had circumstances separated 
these currents "which mounting, viewed each other from 
afar and strove in vain to meet;" and now when the par- 
It will be noticed that there is no mention of Andre at any time 
— nor of Beverly IJobinson. This omission is significant: prob- 
ably the commander considered their errand of too private a na- 
ture for public record. — Ed.) 

Friday, vJ'^d Sept. Variable wind — first and middle jiarts fresh 
breezes and clear — latter calm. P. M. employed as before. 
A. M. at 5 the Kebels opened a battery on us at Taller"s Point, 
and began a heavy cannonade with shot and shell, which we 
return'' — at ^ pt. 5 weighed [anchor]. Got the boats ahead 
and towed out — at | pt. (> we silenced their fire — at ^ pt. 8 
came to with the best B'' [bower] Anchor in 5 fms. [fathoms] 
water, Taller's point bore N° Distr. 2 miles, we received six 
shot in the Hidl (one of which was between wind and water) 
and three through the Boats on the Booms — the Standing 
and Running Eigging shot away in many different places — 
two of the iron Stantions on the Gangways broke hj their 
shot. Several of their shells broke [exploded] over us and 
many of the pieces dropt on board — the Captain (only) slight- 
ly wounded by a splinter. 

Saturday 23 Sept;, j | rnunportant entries.-ED.] 

Sunday, 24 Sept. J 

Monday 25, Sept. * * * at ^ pt. 11 General Arnold in the 
American Service delivered himself up with a Boat's crew. 

Tuesday, 26 Sept. * * * p. m. at 3 weighed [anchor] and 
came to sail — at 11 came to with the Best B'' off Spiker's 
Devil Creek. * * * [The log continues, of unimportant 
entries, but no further mention of Arnold or of the Ameri- 
cans. — Kd.) 
The log kept by the master of the vessel (William Leake 

Stubbs) contains these entries: 

Thursday, 21 Sept. * * * at G A. M. the Rebels displayed a 
white flagg of truce on Taller's Point — sent our boat to answer 
it: when they got within 70 or 80 yards they began a heavy 
fire of musketry on our boat — at 7 the boat return'' without 



INTERVIEW WITH ARNOLD AND ITS RESULTS. 329 

ties were at last in contact, it is impossible that the terms 
of union were not agreed on. Marbois says Arnold 's suc- 
cess was to have been rewarded with £30,000 and the pres- 
ervation of his rank ; and that in his excess of caution he 
even wished the money put within his control in advance. 

The plan of attack and defence was also settled. With 
an eye to this contingency Arnold had more than once de- 
damage— Dried sails— sent a boat to Stoney Point with a 
Flagg of Truce. 
[This was the boat with Sutherland's message to Colonel Living- 
ston—written by Andre. It will be noticed that the Captam's 
log says the boat was sent to Verplanek's Point, which is probably 
right, as we know Livingston was there on the 25th when Arnold 
escaped. — Ed.] 

Friday, 23 Sept. * * At half past five A. M. the Eebles be- 
gan a heavy cannonade on us from Taller's Point, with shott 
and shells.— weight [anchor] and return^ the Fire— at 7 
silencd their fire— at eight came to with the Best B-- in 4 fad™ 
[fathoms] Taller's Point bore N° [north] Distance two mile 
— m Consequence of their Cannonade Eeceiv'i six shots in our 
hull one between wind and water, three threw our boats on 
the Booms : the Standing and running rigging shott away in 
Several Parts— the Irion [iron] Stantions [stanchions] in the 
Gangway- several shott threw the sails— several shell Broke 
over us, many pieces fell on board 
Monday 25 Sept. * * * at a [bout] 11 A. M. came along 
side a reble Boat from West Point— found it to be Gen- 
eral Arnold— who gave himself up— the boat's crew we made 
Prisoners of War. 

y™r?i *!'^ '''°®^ interesting entries several facts appear clearly: 

1. 1 hat the vessel was under fire for an hour and a half, and re- 
plied, probably with her whole broadside (eight guns) quite 
enough to make a great volume of smoke, and justify Smith's 
historic belief that she was afire. 

2. That she was considerably damaged, and, had Livingston 
succeeded m oh aining from Arnold the two heavy guns he asked 
tor, instead of having to content himself with the pop-gun four 
pounder which he brought from Verplanek's Point, mi|ht have 
been so damaged as to be sunk or captured. 

3. That the crew of Arnold's boat were made prisoners of war— 
liters "°* ^^^^^ ""'^^ General Heath, or with some other 



330 LI1''E OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

elared his intention in case of assault to receive the enemy 
in the defiles that led to the works, and repulse them ere 
they approached the walls. Dearborn, Livingston and 
his other subordinates, who had heard not* with perfect 
conviction this resolution, would thus be prepared to obey 
on occasion without susi)i('ion. AVashington seems to 
have been imbued with his ideas: at all events, he di- 
rected him in ease of serious demonstration to abandon 
the posts at King's Ferry and concentrate everything at 
West Point. Nothing could have suited him better: for 
Verplanck's at least was designed and adapted to detain 
for some days a foe 's progress up the stream. And with 
a general of Arnold's character, such a line of defence 
had its apparent advantages; the more, since his people 
could always fall back into the works. But that these 
should be as little useful as possible, he had, by dismount- 
ing the heaviest gvms, throwing down parts of the ma- 
sonry, &c., in various ways and under the fairest pretences 
of adding to its sti'ength, put the fortress into such a state 
as even with a faithful commander it might have been in- 
secure.! A breach was made in the walls of Fort Put- 
nam through which a section could march abreast; and 
nothing but a few loose boards closed the aperture. No 
covering was provided for the troops in the redoubts. A 

* The "not" herem is unexplainable. — [Ed.] 

t In the Knickerbocker Magazine for September, 1840, ap- 
pears an item which seems to have escaped Mr. Sargent's notice. 
It is signed "E. P. T., Salem, N. J., 1840," and is said to be by 
a member of the West Point Board of Visitors. 

"Scaling-ladders with which the walls (of Fort Putnam) might 
he ascended, were found afterwards, concealed, ready for use — and 
some of them were preserved by an aged patriot, as relics, until 
within a few years." 

Richard P. Thompson of Salem, X. J., was a member of the 
Board in 1840. 

The statement is certainly curious. I give it as not having ap- 
peared before in any other account of the treason known to me. 



INTERVIEW WITH ARNOLD AND ITS RESULTS. 331 

place of debarcation, known as Kosciusko's Landiuo- wa« 
left entirely unprotected by any of our works ; and so de- 
fective were tlie police arrangements that it was by no 
means difficult for a stranger to enter tlie post itself, or an 
enemy's boat to pass undetected up tlie river.* 

Matters being thus prepared, it was settled that Andre 
was to return directly to New York, and forthwith come 
again with Clinton and Rodney, who should advance 
against West Point by land and water. The route, the 
place of debarcation, all was agreed upon: and while' our 
men should be detached in various bodies to remote and 
separated gorges, the English through the unguarded 
passes were to fall on them in front and in rear, and so dis- 
pose of their bands as to encompass and capture in detail 
our betrayed soldiery. Hemmed in on every side by rug- 
ged acclivities or superior forces, there would be no alter- 
native but to yield or be mowed down. The very guns and 
other signals to announce Clinton's progress were pre- 
scribed. That no misunderstanding should occur, the 
large and elaborate official plans of the forts and the sur- 
rounding country were spread before the negotiators; 
and there were plenty of men in the royal camp who were 
competent guides to every mountain path and defile In- 
deed Clinton himself was well acquainted with the ground 
as far as King's Ferry, and, as we are told, had visited 
West Point Itself in 1777, ere yet the works were erected. 
Ihat Rodney's flotilla might meet with no difficultv 
Arnold had taken a most secure precaution. A mio-hty 
chain, each link of which weighed 240 pounds, was carried 
by anchors and huge buoys across the stream to obstruct 

sa^flTI^*' ^^'^i^ j°.C}reene; Oct. 8th, 1780. Eeturns of the 
same date preserved m the Heath MSS. show 125 pieces of 
ordnaBce of all calibres in the works at that period, together" ith 
181- mu.kets and numerous other military stores. The largest 
guns were twenty-four pounders. a "e largest 



332 lAVR OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

the passage of a hostile fleet; and water-batteries were 
so ]iLnced as to crusli any attempts to destroy or remove 
it. lender pretenee of necessary repairs, he had a link 
witlidi'awn, wliich was not to be replaced for some days: 
and moantiiiio a slight knot, that would yield to almost 
any concussion, was the only bond that held the boom to- 
gether and preserved the false semblance of a I'eal im- 
pediment. Marbois tells us that whim Clinton should be 
witliin throe miles of tlie place, two of his officers in Ameri- 
can uniforms were to come at full gallop to Arnold's quar- 
ters, receive his final words, and hasten back to Rodney. 
Then the Americans remaining in the works were to be 
stationed in positions that should not be attacked; for 
it must be borne in mind that West Point was so con- 
structed that the possession of its superior fortresses 
gave command of all the others. He also alleges that the 
25th or 26tli September was assigned for the consumma- 
tion of the conspiracy; and seems to connect this with a 
proposal urged by Andre but resisted by Arnold for the 
seizure of "Washington and his suite, who would then be 
on return from Hartford. Washington and Hamilton 
however concur in thinking this scheme was not planned. 
A British subaltern gives the version of the notions enter- 
tained at the time in the best unofficial circles of the king's 
army:— "The plan, had not Major Andre been discov- 
ered, was that Sir Hy. Clinton on a certain day agreed 
upon between him and Genl. Arnold was to lay siege to 
Ft. Defiance. Genl. Arnold was immediately to send to 
Washington for a reinforcement, and before that could 
arrive to surrender the place. Sir Henry was then to 
make a disposition to surprise the reinforcement, which 
]irobably would have been commanded by Genl. Washing- 
ton in person. Had this succeeded, it must have put an 
end to the war."* However this be it is very certain, as 

* Mathew MS. 



PAPEES TAKEN BY ANDRE. 333 

Heath remarks, that Andre's capture was in a very crit- 
ical moment and prevented the most serious consequences 
to our cause.j 

We now come to the most extraordinary part of the 
whole transaction; the committal by Arnold, who had 
hitherto been so very wary, of those papers to Andre 
which, discovered, blasted the entire affair. These were 
not of a nature to be of absolute service to Clinton. They 
were not plans of the country or of the forts. They con- 
tained nothing that might not have been carried in their 
bearer's memory. A syllabus of their most important 
contents might have been conveyed in a memorandum of 
two lines innocent in purport or unintelligible to any but 
its maker. But they were documents that could not have 
come from any hand but Arnold's own, and their posses- 
sion would enable Clinton to compel a fulfilment of his 
engagements. My theory therefore is that they were 
either tendered by Arnold or exacted by Andre as a pledge 
of fidelity. Perhaps Andre was already distrustful by 
reason of his inveiglement into our lines; perhaps he 
dreaded in the hour of performance a betrayal of the plot 
such as was witnessed at Seaton-Niddrie in the Douglas 
Wars; but evidently the papers he now took in hand 
against his general's orders wei-e not necessary for his 
general 's instruction. They were six in number : 

(1.) An Estimate of the forces at West Point and its 
dependencies, Sept. 13th, 1780: showing a total of 308G 
men of all sorts. 

(2.) An Estimate of the number of men necessary to 
man the works at West Point and its vicinity, showing 
a total, exclusive of the artillery corps, of 2438 troops. 

(3.) Artillery Orders issued by Major Bauman, Sept.. 
t Heath Memoirs, p. 226/7 (edition 1901). 



334 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

5tb, 1780, showing the disposition of that corps in an 
alarm. 

(4.) ^lajor Banman's return of the Ordnance in the 
diliterent forts, batteries, &c. at West Point and its de- 
pendencies, Sept. 5, 1780 : showing the distribution of 100 
pieces. 

(5.) Copy of a statement of the condition of affairs 
submitted by Washington to a Council of War. Sejit. 6th, 
1780. 

(6.) "Remarks on Works at Wt. Point, a Copy to be 
transmitted to his Excell'y General Washington, Sep'r 
1780. 

Fort Arnold is built of Dry Fascines and Wood, is in 
a ruinous condition, iucompleat, and subject to take Fire 
from Shells or Carcasses. 

Fort Putnam, Stone, AVanting great repairs, the walls 
on the East side broke down, and rebuilding From the 
Foundation; at the West and South side have been a 
Chevaux-de-Frise, on the West side broke in many Places. 
The East side open; two Bomb Proofs aud Provision 
Magazine in the Fort, aud Slight Wooden Barrack.— A 
commanding piece of ground 500 yards West, between 
the Fort aud No. 4— or Rocky Hill. 

Fort Webb, built of Fascines and Wood, a slight 
Work, very dry, and liable to be set on fire, as the ap- 
proaches are very easy, without defenses, save a slight 
Abattis. 

Fort Wyllys, built of stone 5 feet high, the Work above 
]>lank filled with Earth, the stone work 15 feet, the Earth 
9 feet thick.— Xo Bomb Proofs, the Batteries without the 
Fort. 



PAPERS TAKEN BY ANDRE. 335 

Redoubt No. 1. On the South side wood 9 feet thick, 
the Wt. North and East sides 4 feet thick, no cannon in 
the works, a slight and single Abattis, no ditch or Pickett. 
Cannon on two Batteries. No Bomb proofs. 

Eedoubt No. 2. The same as No. 1. No Bomb Proofs. 

Redoubt No. 3. a slight Wood Work 3 Feet thick, very 
Dry, no Bomb Proofs, a single Abattis, the work easily 
set on fire— no cannon. 

Redoubt No. 4, a Wooden work about 10 feet high and 
fore or five feet thick, the West faced with a stone wall 
8 feet high and four thick. No Bomb Proof, two six- 
pounders, a slight Abattis, a commanding piece of ground 
500 yards Wt. 

The North Redoubt, on the East side, built of stone 4 
feet high; above the Stone, wood filled in with Earth, 
very Dry, no Ditch, a Bomb Proof, three Batteries with- 
out the Fort, a poor Abattis, a Rising piece of ground 500 
yards So., the approaches Under Cover to within 20 
yards.— The Work easily fired with Faggots diptd in 
Pitch, &c. 

South Redoubt, much the same as the North, a Comand- 
ing piece of ground 500 yards due East— 3 Batteries with- 
out the Fort." 

These were all in Arnold's writing save the fourth, and 
the sixth alone was of sufficient moment to warrant more 
than the briefest syllabus of its contents; and even this 
last, one would think, might have been digested into a 
compact note, incomprehensible without a clue. To his 
having the originals, however, Andre owed his detection. 
But when he took them, it would seem he had expected to 
return by water as he came ; and to Arnold 's warning to 
destroy them should accident befall the bearer he replied 



33G LIFi: OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

that such "of oouvso would bo the caso. as when lie went 
iuto the boat he shoukl have them tied about with a string 
and a stone." ^feautime Arnold made Andre take olT his 
boots, and conceal three of the doenments between each 
stocking and the sole of his foot. 

It is not likely these dangerous testimonials would have 
been received had their bearer not still believed himself 
destined to go to the Vulture, which was now returned 
to the vicinity of her former position. Before ten A. M. 
of the 2llnd, Arnold took his farewell and set off in his 
barge for head-quarters. "Before we parted," says 
Andre, "some mention had been made of my crossing the 
river and going another route; but I objected much 
against it. and though it was settled that in the way I came 
I was to return." But that it was not definitely so ar- 
ranged appears from Arnold's injunction that if he went 
by land he should exchange his uniform coat for another 
to be supplied by Smith. To this, though pressed pei*- 
emptorily, Andre yielded a reluctant consent. "I was 
induced to put on this wretched coat ! ' ' said he afterwards, 
touching the sleeve of his disguise. The following safe- 
conducts were also calculated for either passage: — 

He.u> Quarters, Robinson's House, Sep'r 2:^d, 17S0.— 
Joshua Smith has permission to pass with a boat and 
three hands and a flag to Dobbs' Ferry, on public busi- 
ness, and to return immediately. B. Arnold. M. Gen. 

Head Qu.vkters, Kobinson's House. Sep'r ;^:?</. 17S0.— 
Joshua Smith has permission to pass the guards to the 
"VMiite Plains, and to return ; he being on public business 
by my direction. B. Arnold, M. Gen. 

Head Qu.ujters, Robinson's House, Sep'r 23d, 17S0.— 
Permit Mr. John Anderson to pass the guards to the 



PLANS FOB RETURN. 337 

Wliite Plains, or below, if he cliuses. He being on Publiu 
Business by my Direction. B. Arnold, M. Gen. 

When Arnold was gone, Andre passed the anxious day 
in waiting for Smith to take him off. His host's whole 
account of the affair is so shufBing and evasive, and so 
contradicted by the evidence of his own Trial, that we are 
compelled to suppose him from first to last conscious of 
unlawful designs on Arnold's part. Neither to his Ameri- 
can judges nor to the English public did he tell the whole 
truth. There were apparently things in his conduct that 
he dared not afterwards avow. He is said, however, to 
have consumed part of the day in a fruitless effort to get 
possession of an American uniform belonging to Lieut. 
John Webb, that was left at Mrs. Beekman's house on the 
Croton. The lady suspected his want of authority to re- 
ceive it and would not deliver it up to him. As Webb and 
Andre were much of the same size, the former's uniform 
would have been of much service in the disguised progress 
through our lines ; but of course nothing of this sort was 
suspected at the time. Nevertheless there appears in 
Smith's Narrative an occasional touch of nature that car- 
ries conviction with it. He unsuccessfully sought to worm 
the secret of liis guest's business, whom nothing inter- 
ested but the prospect of departure and the difficulty of 
rejoining the vessel on which he wistfully gazed. "Never 
can my memory cease to record the impassioned language 
of his countenance, and the energy with which he ex- 
pressed his wish to be on board the Vulture, when viewing 
that ship from an upper window of my house. ' ' 

Smith had three courses to pursue. If he was a sincere 
Wliig, and distrusted Arnold, he should have sought coun- 
sel of some of the neighboring officers. If he was willing 
to go through with his undertaking, he should have started 
at once by land with Andre; or he should have prepared 

•22 



OOH LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

to carry him by water in the coming uiglit. He did 
neither. lie made no attempt to again engage the boat- 
men, nor did he set olf by the huul route till the day was 
spent. It must be stated that he made no secret to all 
Tliom he met of his connection with "Mr. Anderson," a 
person emjiloyed by Arnold to get intelligence from New- 
York: but at the same time he omitted no opportunity of 
producing an impression that their course was to be up 
the river to head-quarters, rather than down towards the 
city. As for the tale that he was imposed on by Arnold 
to believe that his guest was a young tradesman from New 
York who in vanity had borrowed a British uniform, it is 
efit'ectually contradicted by his half-admission that he saw 
him ill the coat upon the I'liltme, and the fact that Kobin- 
son and Sutherland were in his company when he left the 
vessel in this very gear. But about the ague, that ren- 
dered a night on the water injurious to his comfort and 
health, there is less room for cavil; and though there is 
no doubt that he might, had he strongly wished it, have 
found means to convey Andre on board, he had at least a 
fair show of reasoning for preferring to escort him by the 
shore. 

Mounted on a horse furnished by Arnold and accom- 
panied by Smith and his negro, Andre at length started 
for New York. Had he been possessed of more knowledge 
of the habits and customs of all classes in this country, or 
had greater confidence existed between his host and him- 
self, there were a thousand chances to one that the black 
fellow could have served his turn better than any man that 
had been thought of. Every one knows how apt at clan- 
destine practices is the black domestic servant of America. 
If a negro would go to a nocturnal frolic twenty miles 
from his master's homo, the choicest steed in the stable 
will be found dripping in his stall on the ensuing morning, 
nor can any one discover the cause. If a piece of house- 



PLANS FOE RETURN. 33D 

hold gossip that occurs at bedtime is known ere daybreak 
to half the kitchens in the community, the inforniaut is 
surely a negro. To an obstinate perverseness which often 
rises into almost chivalric fidelity of disposition is united 
in the negro's character a certain spice of his savage 
origin that not only tells him bread eaten in secret is sweet 
and stolen waters pleasant; but which leads him in a 
manner to outwit the cunning of nature. The shortest 
and surest path through a swamp; the most secluded 
nook or narrowest channel among a thousand islets of the 
coast is sure to be known to the wanderer in darkness as 
well as his own fireside. Had Andre and Smith at this 
moment interested their attendant witli a dram, a promise 
of a half-joe, and an injunction of perfect secrecy, I have 
no doubt that the next daybreak would have found the 
Englishman on the deck of the Vulture. If the servant 
himself was not competent to the undertaking, he had be- 
yond question scores of friends who were; and a canoe 
or skiff with an experienced navigator would have brought 
Andre to the ship's side ere the sentry heard the dij) of 
the paddle. 

It was upon a Friday afternoon that this expedition 
was begun ; and if any ill-omen was to be drawn from the 
day, Andre perhaps, like the gentle cavalier of old, might 
profess his confidence in the power that made the sun to 
rise rather than in the day's name that it rose on. Or if 
he took any heed of omens in the satisfaction at being 
released from his condition of inert and perilous suspense, 
the glorious words of Homer should have dispelled every 
painful thought :— the best omen of all is to strike for your 
country. 



CHAPTER XVL 



Andre's Journey. — Westchester County- — Skinners and Cow- 
boys. — Andre's Cajituro. — Various Accounts of its Circumstances. 




HE evouing twiliglit was setting in when the 
travellers crossed the Hiidson at King's Ferry, 
abont two miles northeast of Smith's house. 
To his acquaintance on the road and to the 
officers of Ver]ilanck's, Smith professed his destina- 
tion to be Kobinsou's house; but while he paused to 
chat and drink, his companion eschewed all conversa- 
tion or delay and passed slowly on. Andre's dress at this 
moment was a purple or crimson coat with vellum-bound 
button-holes and garnished with threadbare gold-lace 
which, with a tarnished beaver hat. he had obtained from 
his guide. The remainder of his apparel was his military 
undress ; uankiu small-clothes and handsome white-topped 
boots. Over all was his well-worn watch-coat with its 
heavy cape, buttoned closely about his neck. From ^'er- 
planck's the road, with its ancient guide-post, Dishe his dl 
Roode foe de Kshing's Farry, led northwesterly for four- 
teen miles towards Salem; intersected however at three 
miles distance by the direct highway from Peekskill 
through Tarrytown to New York, that follows the river 
and crosses the neck of Teller's Point. This would per- 
haps have been the best course for Andre to have pursued, 
had not Smith's false answers made it dangerous to have 
turned so soon down the river instead of up. By it the 
distance from ^'erplauck's to Dobbs* Ferry, where were 
probably at this moment British gun-boats, was but about 
twenty-two miles ; and to Tarrytown but about nineteen. 
Five and a half miles from Verplanck's another road 



Andre's jourkey. 342 

from Peekskill intersects that to Salem, and bending away 
through the mtenor crosses the Croton at Pine's BriXe 
and makes the distance by it to Tarrytown, as Andrl 
eventual y travelled, fully twenty-five miles. By cross- 
Plains.' ™"*' ""'' "''""* '^^"""^ ^^"-^^t to Wliite 

Just before dark Smith ovei'took his companion and the 
servant, and the party now hastened onwards. Every at- 

IfTy-o "q?^ '^f-' ^"*" conversation about the affairs 
ot 1 / , 9 at Stony Point and the vicinity was fruitless He 
was reluctant to talk, and anxious only to get on. Between 
eight and nme P. M. they stumbled across an American 
pati-o under Captain Boyd,* who compelled them to ex- 
hib, their pass and declare their errand. Smith had no 
hesitation m uttering his tale that they were on their way 
to get intelligence for Arnold; and Boyd, who seems to 
have been of a very inquisitive yet communicative dispo- 
sition, overwhelmed him with questions and with advice 
He was positive that their best route was by North Castle • 
the Tarrytown Road was infested with Cow-boys; and 
there was no propriety in their proceeding further that 
night. Andre was not a little disconcerted at all this, and 
privately urged Smith to push forward in despite of 
Boyd s advice; but his guide was fearful of exciting dis- 
pleasure or suspicion and insisted on going no further. 
But instead of the house recommended to them for a lodg- 
ing, he sought some miles back the dwellingt of a loyal 
Scot who did not scruple to avow, much to Andre's con- 
tentment, his longings for the restoration of the Kino-'s 
authority. Here they procured admittance; but such 
was the distrust of the times that the farmer would not 
himself retire till he had seen his two guests ensconced in 
* Ebenezer Boyd, 3rd Westchester County Militia 
TAn error-,t v.as Andreas Miller's house, "close by"-Bovd's 
testimony at Smith's trial. •' ^"3us 



342 LIKK OF MA.IOU ANPRE. 

one bed. He had been lately harried of all his cattle: 
iiovortlioloss lie would take no ]viy for liis Inmiblo aooom- 
modations. 

Andre ]>assed a restless night, tossing and sighing till 
he robbed Smith of that repose which he could not himself 
enjoy ; and with the lirst glimpse of dawn w!\s up and 
stirring, eager to get away. He sought the negro and bade 
him bring out the horses; and without waiting for break- 
fast, the party set forth betimes. When the horses ap- 
peared, the haggard countenance which betrayed a sleep- 
less couch lightened ui> with pleasure; and a sereuer ex- 
pression supplanted its unmistakable dejection while the 
journey lessened under their feet. As the fear of detec- 
tion subsided, his spirits rose ]n'oportionately to their late 
depression. He was tilled with the sense of the awful 
dangers he had fallen into ; of the imminent prospect of 
his extrication from an unforeseen whirlpool that had in- 
volved his life and his fame; and of the ]irodigious results 
that would ensue by deliverance. Behind lay death and 
shame: before him, glory, happiness, and renown. Un- 
able to reveal to his companion the secret cause of his 
swelling satisfaction, he gave it vent through another 
channel, and burst into a tlood of animated discourse. 
Kvcrything that fell from his lips partook of the bright 
Imes of his mind; and the delighted listener was fain to 
note the change from his previous reticence and gloom : 

"T now found him highly entertaining: he was not only 
well informed in general history, but well aciiuainted with 
that of America, particularly New York, which he termed 
tlie residuary legattH' of the British government (for it 
took all the remaining lands not granted to the proprie- 
tary and chartei'cd provimvs). He had consulted the 
Muses as well as Mars, for he couversevi freely on the 
i elles-letti-es : music, painting, and poetry, seemed to bo 



andhk's journey. 340 

of he authors he had read, professed groat oleganoe of 
onlnnont, and a n.ost pleasing manner of conveTng his 

n^^s^byadopt,ngti,oflovveryeo]oaringofpoeL''- 
agery. He la,nen(,Hl the causes wliiel, gave birth to -.nd 
continued the war, and said if there was'a eorrci . d 
to-nper on the part of the Americans, with the pr vai ng 
sinntoi het.rUis],Annistry,peaeewasaneve:H,„,.;"f 
hstant; he nitimated that measures were then in agita- 
on for the accomplishment of that desirable object, be- 
fore h ranee could accomplisli her perfidious designs He 
Sincerely w,shed the fate of the war could alone be deter 
nnned ,„ the air, open field contest, between .s n,X 
Bntish m number as those under the command of Count 
Rochambeau at Rhode Island, whose effective force "^ 
seemed clearly to understand; he descanted on the rich! 
ness of the scenery around us, and particularly admired 

ta.ns, bathmg then- lofty summits in the clouds from tlieir 
«3^n.mg watery hase at the north extremity of Ilaverstraw 
±5ay J lu, pleasantry of converse, and the mildness of the 
weather, so insensibly beguiled the time, that we at length 

got half way; and T now had reason to think my fellow- 
t avel er a very ditierent person from the character I had 
at first formed of him.* 

As they approached Pine's I^ridge, wliich c-osses the 
Croton about twelve miles by their course from Ve ! 
P anck's, t ey paused to bait their horses and to seek food 
at a waysKle cottage, whose n.istress had but the nightTe 
fore been robbed by the Skinners or Cow-boys of all Ji, 
* Smith's Narrative 44. 



344 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

possessed sjive a little meal and a single eow.t The good 
AToman's hos]ntality. however, was not measured by her 
larder. From her milk and her meal she prepared a sort 
of hmnble porridge or soupaun that the travellers, fast- 
ing since yesterday 's dinner, did ample justice to without 
regard to the contemptuous sport which one of them had 
so lately l>estowed on it in the Coic-Choie. 

During breakfast Smith informed his companion of his 
intention to part. His understanding with Arnold was to 
continue to Wliite Plains: and had he fulfilled it. Andre 
would have been saved. For Smith was known by and 
himself knew jHM'sonally most of the peoyile of this region; 
and had he been stopped by the captors there is little ques- 
tion that he would have carried the matter through and 
without hesitation. In truth, he was probably afraid of 
ooiiipromising himself by a longer stay with one who evi- 
dently was not what he seemed : or he may have dreaded 
encountering the Cow-boys lielow Pine's Bridge: for the 
Croton was regarded as the boundary Ivtween the Eng- 
lish and -\mericans of the debatable land, or, in the lan- 
giiage of the day, the Neutral Ground. Andre had no 
means of opposing this determination: nor was he ^>er- 
haps sorry, now that he was almost out of danger, to lie 
quit of his comrade. AVhile Smith was paying for the 
breakfast, however, he mentioned his owti condition as to 
funds, and borrowed one-half of the stock of pai>ei'-money 
in his guide's wallet. At parting, says Smith, he betrayed 
some emotion. He charged himself with a message to his 
own actpiaiutance and Smith's brother, the Chief -justice, 
and vainly urged the acceptan<.v of his gold watch, as a 
keei>-sake, on his guide, "With mutual good wishes they 

t Smith sjiys this was at the residence of an old Dutch frau, t\ro 
and a half miles before coming to the bridge. Bolton (Wfftcheslfr 
Co. I. 510) sjiys it was at Mrs. Underhill's of Yorktown. whose 
grandson still possesses the house. [Bolton is correct. — Ed.] 



THE SKINNERS AND COW-BOYS. 345 

separated; and Smith hastened wiili his sorvjuit up the 
road; dined at licad-ipiaiiors with Arnohl, wiioin lie rep- 
resents as satisfied with liis conduct; and su|)ped on the 
next evening at Fishkill with Washington and his suite. 

Westchester County, through which Andre now pursued 
his solitary way, was in the beginning of the contest sig- 
nalized by its loyalty. Throngs of its people not only pub- 
licly avowed tlieir intention to stand by the King and to 
shoot down any who came in the name of Congress to 
disarm them, but even put a measurable restraint upon 
the Whigs; and retorted in kind many of those rude 
monitions of popular disi)leasure that in other places the 
Tories were subjected to. If a ])rominent Whig found his 
fences thrown down, or the manes and tails of his clioicest 
horses disfigured by the clipping-sliears, he knew it was a 
political enemy that had done this. Much of the soil, 
particularly towards the Hudson, was vested in large 
projjrietors, — the Philipses, ( 'oldens, De Lanceys, and Van 
Cortlandts,— and by them cultivated or leased out in 
small farms; so that in its extent of thirty miles, it had 
presented one of the most prosperous rural districts of 
America. The course of war, however, changed all this. 
The majority of the gentry sided witli the Crown, and 
took refuge in New York. Their dependents, and tiic; 
agricultural ])opulace generally whatever their political 
views, lost heart in an employment that rival armies alone 
profited by. Many who leased or owned fai'ms were sub- 
jected to losses which drove them to desperation ; and 
that class of the people who had nothing to lose and to 
whom honest labor was often denied, seem to have be- 
come thoroughly imbued with a spirit of spoil and rob- 
bery. Nominally, such as participated in these habits were 
divided into two orders : the Cow-boys robbed and cried 
"God save the King;" the Skinners stole for the sake of 



346 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

Congress. Of course each side pretended to confine its 
outrages to the enemies of its own political creed; but in 
point of fact it pillaged indifferently friend and foe who 
had a cow or a pig to be carried off, or a purse of gold to 
be yielded. These scoundrelly partisans were often per- 
sonal acquaintances ; they were often in league, and play- 
ing into each otb.ers* hands. The Cow-boys were gener- 
ally refugees who had been expelled from their homes and 
driven to reside within the British lines. The Skinners, 
though abiding in our bounds and professing attachment 
to our cause, were in reality, says Mr. Sparks, "more un- 
principled, perfidious, and inhuman than the Cow-boys 
themselves: for these latter exhibited some symptoms 
of fellow-feeling for their friends, whereas the Skin- 
ners committed their depredations equally upon frieud 
and foe." An idea of their comparative merits may 
be obtained from their respective titles: the Cow-boys 
were so called from their practice of harrying the 
cattle of Whig farmers, and bringing them into Xew 
York; the Skinners got their name by reason of 
their stripping their victim of every thing he had in 
the world down to the merest trifle; not scrupling, 
if they thought money was to be extorted by the op- 
eration, to deprive his flesh of its nearest and most 
primitive covering. In this course, as Mr. Sparks says, 
they had no more hesitation in ^"isiting a wealthy AVhig 
than a Tory; and so great was the apjjetite for villainy, 
that no orders, nor even the presence of a commissioned 
officer could restrain them. If an American foraging 
party went out from the lines, as many volunteers from 
the country side as could join themselves to it attended 
and disgraced its progress: and they would return rich 
with horses, cattle, bed-stuffs, clothing, and whatever 
portable eft'ects they could bear away to divide at their 
leisure. "The militia volunteers excelled in this busi- 



THE SKINNERS AND COW-BOYS. 347 

ness," said Aaron Burr. A crowd of the best Whigs in 
the land would follow at their heels, hoping, and some- 
times obtaining the restoration of their projjerty, but not 
often the punishment of their robbers. When the protec- 
tion of a regular party was wanting to these skulking 
thieves, they would maraud by night through the country 
round, and concert with their kindred the Cow-boys to 
take off their hands the plunder they could neither keep 
themselves nor sell within American jurisdiction. Then 
a meeting would occur, and the cows and sheep of the 
Whig farmer be bartered for dry goods and gold brought 
by the Cow-boys from New York. A mock skirmish 
closed the scene of inicjuity, and with pockets well lined 
and tongues loud in lying praise of their own bravery, the 
Skinners would return laden with booty which they pre- 
tended they had captured from a smuggling party of the 
enemy. Well might this state of affairs be styled a most 
"formidable conspiracy against the rights and claims of 
humanity!"* 

To the armies on either side, rather than to any exer- 
tion of the civil authorities, is due the praise for any at- 
tempt to suppress these banditti. The Continental officers 
on the lines "were constantly instructed to prevent and 
repress them. Yet the task was difficult. The Whig leg- 
islature of New York had enacted the confiscation of every 
man's property who refused the oath of allegiance: sup- 
plies of war intended for the enemy were also declared 
lawful prize ; and under these pretences, the sturdy rustic, 
who at sunset would bear down an inquisitive officer with 

* The Militia and Cow-boys are very busy in driving, and it is 
out of my power to prevent them. If I send the troops down 
below to prevent the Cow-boys the Militia are driving off in the 
rear, and if I have the troops above, the lower party are driviug 
downwards, and the inhabitants are left destitute without any 
prospect of redress. — MS. Jameson to Heath, Oct. ISth, 1780. 



■348 LIFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

protestations of his utter aversion to sncli practices, would 
ere morning justify his i)illage of any neighbor's cattle- 
yard or sheepfold as a legitimate spoiling of the Egyptian. 
There is an undoubted rule of war in such cases, the sea- 
sonable application of which will always save many lives 
in the end. Its principles were published and practised 
by Napoleon and maintained by Wellington. When rival 
armies are in the field, it is lawful for any inhabitant to 
enlist under the flag of his country. If captured, he is a 
prisoner entitled to honorable treatment. But where peas- 
antry refuse to enlist, yet secretly resist,— to-day peace- 
fully working in their fields, to-night assaulting a picket- 
guard,— the general of the adversary is entirely justifiable 
in burning their habitations and hanging the men to the 
nearest tree. The army that can maintain its position in 
a hostile land has for the time being a right to the open 
opposition or the passive obedience of the inhabitants 
within its range. 

At this very period we know how Westchester county, 
once such a scene of rural affluence and peace, appeared 
to a foraging party that bore off hundreds of loads of its 
hay and grain. The land was in ruins. Most of the farm- 
holders had fled, and such as remained were not permitted 
to reap where they had sown. The fields were covered 
with the tangled harvest-growths that decayed ungathered 
on the ground, and in the neglected orchards the fruit 
rotted in great heaps beneath the trees. The sturdy 
American* who descrilies the scene attributes all the 
devastation to the enemy: for he considered Cow-boys 
and Skinners as renegades alike, and all villainous Tories. 
He recites the tortures they employed to extort from the 
inhabitants the revelation of hoards which perhaps did 
not exist. The wretch would ])e hanged till he became 
insensible; then cut down and revived, and again hanged. 
* Timothv Dwi'iht. — Travels. 



ANDRE ON THE TAREYTOWN ROAD. 349. 

The case of an aged Quaker makes it probable these 
luffians were nomzually Whigs; for the Quakers were 

money, but more was required. To be sure tha he was 
secretmg nothmg from them, his captors first mflieted 
■ the torment of scorching: they stripped him naked Tn 
mersed hxm m hot ashes, and roasted him as one wouTd 
a potato trll the blistered skin rose from his fleTh Tl en 
be was thnce hung and cut down ; nor did his oppressox-s 
leave hnn while life appeared to remain. wSen Bu 
commanded the advanced lines in this county, his ind 1' 
nahon at all he witnessed first inspired him, he says, w th 

lodWr ''^''T'^rr- "I ^om gibbet half-a-'dozen 
good BJugs, with all the venom of an inveterate Tory." 

Through such a region, where none were safe with 

t7.o Af?' r' '''' ?"^ *^ ^^^'^^^ ''' ^-dre was now 
IS'- ^f ^^^^V^^ Pi^^'s Bridge, he was not long in 
resolymg to abandon the route he was on, and, striking to 

and If, as Boyd had warned him, he might find the Cow- 
boys upon It, he probably esteemed them less perilous op- 
ponents than the Skinners. It was a bright pleasant 
mormng on Saturday, the 23rd of September ; ^nd he 
looked forward to being ere sunset once more with his 
friends Few mcidents for a while interrupted his soli: 
tude. At the house of Mr. Staats Hammond* he paused 
to ask for water, and the little children who brought it tb 
liim from the well bore in mind their vision of a mounted 
man closely wrapt in his light-blue swan-skin cloak, with 
high military boots and round brimmed hat, wholeisurely 
walked his bay horse to their door. The incongruous ap- 
pearance of such a good-looking steed, with its handsome 

vU]?''^rr ^Ti^"^ "'' ^>perhan River, in the town of Pleasant- 

wi,o ^-l^l^^^e^.^^^ere David and Sallv Hammond, to tlie la eV 

01 wliom he gave a sixpence, long treasured in the family 



350 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

double snaffle bridle and its t;iii ;uul inane filled with l)iirrs, 
was not lost on tliciii. 'I'lic lad held the rein while the 
stranger drank. "How far is it to Tarrytown .'" he in- 
(luired. "Four niiios," roitlied the boy. "I did not think it 
was so far," said Andre, and resumed his way. At C'liap- 
])aqua, near rnderliill's Tavern, he again (juestioned 
some (Quakers* whom lie met as to the road, and whether 
troops were out below. At the foot of the Chai^paqua 
roads he took that leading to the river; and came into 
the Albany post-road near the village of Sparta. As he 
approached what is now called the Andre Brook, he had 
gone over nearly eleven miles of neutral ground. 

He was now hard by Tarrytown, and even by his own 
showing, had been very lueky in his journey. ' ' Nothing, ' ' 
lie said to one of our officers, "occurred to disturb him in 
liis route until he arrived at the last i^lace, excei^tiug at 
Cromi)on ; he told me his hair stood erect, and his heart 
was in his mouth, on meeting Col. Samuel B. AVebb, of 
our army— an acquaintance of his. He said the Colonel 
stared at him, and he thought he was gone ; but they kept 
moving, and soon passed each other. He then thought 
himself ])ast all danger. Whilst ruminating on his good 
luck and hairbreadth escape, he was assailed by three 
bushmen near Tarrytown, who ordered him to stand." 

On tlio west of the I'oad tlowed the river; on the east 
rose the Greenburgh Hills, in whose bosom lies the world- 
renowned vale of Sleepy Hollow, with its old church, 
founded by the Philipse family, and the ancient bell with 
its legend Si Deus pro nohk^, quis contra nos. Indeed on 

*^Ir. Sargent has rcverseil the order of these meetings. The 
Quakers, Stevenson Thorne and his son Jesse, were met at the 
former's liouse, some distance ahove (north) of Hammond's. Nor 
did .\ndre go near Sparta, bnt came over the Poeantieo hills on to 
the "lower road" into Tarrytown. See my Crisis of the Revolu- 
iion. — [Ed.J 




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AXDx^E ON THE TARRYTOWN ROAD. ;j5l 

«very hand stretched far and wide around him the fair 
manors of his friends the De Lanceys and those of the 
Philipsesm which his coadjutor Robinson was so Largely 
nterested. Before him, scarce half a mile north of Tan v 
town, a rivulet flowing from the hills crossed the road 

_VV ilej s Swamp ; and by a south-west course soon mingled 
Its waters with that part of the neighboring Hudson which 
bears the name of the Tappan Zee. "A few rough loc^s " 
says the venerable Knickerbocker, "laid side by side 
served for a bridge over this stream. On that side of thj 
road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks 
and chestnuts, matted thick with wild grape-vines, threw 
a cavernous gloom over it." Here, on the south or lower 
side of the bridge and on the west side of the path, were 
secreted amon^ the bushes John Paulding, Isaac Van 
Wart, and David Williams, whose presence';n this occa 
tion saved America from a mortal blow.* 

On the preceding day seven young men,t mostly natives 
of or well acquainted with the neighborhood, had agreed 
to waylay the road in quest of spoil. The ravages of war 
had deprived them of all profitable and peaceful employ- 
ment, and by their own account they were in hopes of 
* See Appendix, No. II 

ensiin lirZ'::; r' ''''^ '^^r^ ^ commissioned office -an 
wllfi . P*""^*-^ ''"''''^ members of the First re<nment of 

Westchester county militia. Dean was practically the^e^der of 
the party, but never made anv claim for reward LossinllavJ 



352 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

wresting from some of the returning confederates of the 
Cow-boys, who had just foraged the country, a part of 
their ill-gotten gains. That they should have cared to en- 
counter an armed force of any size is contradicted by the 
smallness and disposition of tlieir own band; three of 
whom kept the ambush, while four watched from a hill- 
top lest the Light-horse should come on them unawares. 
For as they acted under no commission nor were detached 
from either the Continental or militia organizations, it 
might have fared badly with them to have been inter- 
rupted by the American or the English authorities. It has 
been indeed said that the enterprise was ]iermitted by the 
connnanding officer at Salem; yet Tallmadge, the second 
officer and the efficient spirit of the dragoons, declared its 
character was such that had he fallen upon it he would 
have arrested its members as readily as Andre himself. 
It is fortunate therefore that they escaped the notice of 
this active and well-informed soldier. 

Through all this part of our narrative, a fatal combina- 
tion of circumstances was working against Andre. Had 
he pursued any other road, or had he arrived here two 
hours earlier, he would have escajied scot-free. The party 
had been but little more than an hour on the ground when, 
between eight and nine A. M., one of them looking up from 
the game of cards in which they had engaged, discovered 
his approach. His boots, a valuable prize in those days, 
seemed to have at once attracted the eyes of all.* "There 

* Tlie want of mamifactured domestic articles was severely felt 
by our people during the war; and in the liottest pursuit of British 
cavalry an American trooper has been seen to peril his life for just 
such boots as Andre wore: leaping from his horse to strip a pair 
from the corpse of a royal officer, and escaping ahuost under the 
upraised swords of the enemy. ^Ye may all remember the 
ludicrous scene in a book, the terror of our childhood — Schiiicler- 
haniies. the Rohher of the Rhine — where forty or fifty Jews, amid 
]'rotestations of entire povertj', are made to remove their boots, 
shoes, and stockings, and display the treasures they had there cou- 



Andre's capture. 353 

comes a trader going to New York," said one. "There 
comes a gentleman-like looking man," said another to 
Paulding, "who appears to be well dressed and has boots 
on, whom you had better step out and stop, if you don't 
know him." As his horse's tramp clattered over the 
bridge they sprang to their feet, and Paulding, the mas- 
ter-spirit of the party, advanced with presented musket 
and bade him stand, and announce his destination. "My 
lads," he replied, "I hope you belong to our party." 
They asked which party he meant. "The lower party," 
he answered ; and on their saying that they did, lie seems 
to have betrayed an exultation that was unmistakable. 
"Thank God, I am once more among friends!" he cried, 
as he recognized a royal uniform on Paulding's back. "I 
am giad to see you. I am a British officer out of tlie coun- 
try, on particular business, and I hope you won't detain 
me a minute;" and in proof of his assertion he exliibitod 
the gold watch, which vras an article then seldom pos- 
sessed by the gentlemen of our service. On this tliey told 
him he was their prisoner ; that they were Americans, and 
he must dismount. He laughed, unconcernedly producing 

cealed; and how, each being told to resume his own articles, a 
furious fight was at once waged — first for the boots, next for the. 
slioos. The date of this scene is in the close of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. The large horseman's hoots which Andre wore were very dif- 
ferent articles from those which common acceptation has received.. 
I have seen a sign-board, commemorating the capture, that stood' 
for many years in Philadelphia, and which erroneously displayed a 
pair of genuine comedy top-boots in lieu of the originals. Three- 
months previous to Andre's detection, a letter was published which 
purported to have been written by our Gen. Maxwell to Mr. Cald- 
well, in which the writer explicitly states that till he receives a 
pair of boots he cannot appear in public. The events of the 
capture as given above are described in three forms, according to 
the version given by the captors themselves; by Andre; and by 
tradition. It is impossible to entirely reconcile all of them; so 
the reader shall have an opportunity of comparing them together, 
and with Appendix Xo. II., where the captors themselves are more 
particularly noticed. 

23 



354 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Arnold's pass and remarking, "]\ry God, I must do any- 
thing to get along ! ' ' None but Paulding were able to read 
or write; and he treated the safe-conduct with little re- 
spect, after the previous avowal. "Had he pulled out 
General Arnold's pass first, I should have let him go."* 

Tliey now led him aside to a gigantic whitewood or 
tulip-tree, twenty-six feet in girth, that stood like a land- 
mark a little southward of the stream. 

"Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic, large enough to 
form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to 
the earth, and rising again into the air. It was connected 
with the tragical story of the unfortunate Andre, who had 
been taken i^risoner hard by ; and was universally known 
hy the name of Major Andre's Tree. The common people 
regarded it with a mixture of respect and siiperstition, 
partly out of sympathy for the fate of its illstarred name- 
sake, and partly from the tale of strange sights and dole- 
ful lamentations told concerning it."t 

Under this tree, which by a strange chance was scathed 
with lightning on the very day that the news of his exe- 
cution came to Tarry town,i Andre was searched. He 
warned his captors of Arnold's displeasure at this pro- 
ceeding, and protested he had no letters; but nothing 
would satisfy them but an examination of his person. 
"My lads," said he, "you will bring yourselves into 
trouble":— but they vowed they did not fear it, and while 
by their compulsion he threw off his clothing, piece by 
piece, Williams was deputed to the examination. Nothing 
appeared, however, till one boot was removed; then it 
was evident that something was concealed in the stocking. 

* The three captors' accounts vary slightly, but the autlior's di- 
gest of them is substantially correct. — [Ed.] 
t Irving, 
j Error. It was news of Arnold's deatli in London. [Ed.] 



Andre's capture. 355 

"By ," cried Paulding— "here it is!"— and seizing 

the foot while Williams withdrew the stocking, three 
folded half-sheets of paper enclosed in a fourth indorsed 
West Point were revealed. The other foot was found 

similarly furnished. "By ," repeated Paulding, "he 

is a spy!" 

They q^^estioned him as to where he obtained these pa- 
pers ; but of course his replies were evasive. They asked 
him whether he would engage to pay them handsomely if 
they would release him, and he eagerly assented. He 
would surrender all he had with him, and would engage to 
pav a hundred guineas or more, and anj^ quantity of dry 
goods, if he were permitted to communicate with New 
York. Dry goods, it will be remembered, was the general 
term for articles peculiarly precious to our people. Pauld- 
ing peremptorily stopped this conversation ; swearing de- 
terminedly that not ten thousand guineas should release 
him. Williams again asked him if he would not escape, if 
an opportunity offered. "Yes, I would," said Andre. "I 
do not intend that you shall," was the rejoinder; whereon 
the prisoner to all further interrogatories prayed them 
to lead him to an American post, and to question him no 
more. They now set forth towards their comrades on the 
hill, Paulding leading the horse on which the captive was 
mounted. As the parties drew together, the guide in- 
formed Yerks, the chief man of the remaining four, of 
their prize, making him at the same time descend and 
produce his watch in verification of his quality. "He 
then asked him for his watch," says Yerks, "at the same 
time warning him not to make any attempt at escape, for 
ii he did he was a dead man. ' ' Presently the course was 
resumed across the country to North Castle; avoiding 
roads and "each taking their turns at the bridle, some 
marched on either side, the remainder bringing up the 
rear." Andre was taciturn, only speaking to answer 



356 LIFK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

questions, and then but shortly. As they paused at the 
house* of one of the party, Paulding went in advance to 
its proprietor (perhaps his comrade's father) and said:— 
"Be careful how you talk; I believe we have got a Brit- 
ish officer." Here they tarried a little, and one of the wo- 
men of the family pressed Andre to eat. "No, I thank 
you," he answered in sadness, "I have no appetite to take 
anything. ' 't Soon resuming the march in such wise as 
before, they at length accomplished the twelve miles that 
brought them to Jameson's quarters, and delivered their 
prisoner into his hands. 

We must now hear another and less pleasing narration 
of some of these transactions ; and particularly, so far as 
may be, obtain Andre's own account of the affair. The 
late General Joshua King, of Ridgetield, Connecticut, then 
a lieutenant in Sheldon's dragoons, who had custody of 
him within a few hoiirs of his arrival, relates the story 
Andre told, and which he himself implicitly received and 
always upheld as nothing but the truth. It must be 
premised that it was not altogether unusual for persons 
near the British lines to kidnap an officer riding out when 
none of our troops were near the city, and detain him till 
he promised to pay a ransom. This practice was at length 
in a measui'e checked by the officers themselves, who not 
only paid the extorted gold, but caused the recipient to be 
imprisoned or flogged. King says, then, that Andre in the 
course of his revelations (which are otherwise partly sus- 
tained by what we now know) told how he was challenged 
near Tarrytown by three bushmen: 

"He says to them, I hope, gentlemen, you belong to the 
lower party. We do, says one. So do I, says he, and by 

* The Romcr house. 

f Irving. This was probably anotlier house — Ihat of John Eob- 
bins, near Kensico (then called Wright's Mills.) 



ANDRE S CAPTURE. 357 

the token of this ring and key you will let me pass.* I am 
a British officer on business of importance, and must not 
be detained. One of them took his watch from him, and 
ordered him to dismount. The moment this was done, he 
said he found he was mistaken, and he must shift his tone. 
He says, I am happy, gentlemen, to find I am mistaken. 
You belong to the upper party, and so do I. A man must 
make use of any shift to get along, and to convince you of 
it, here is General Arnold's pass, handing it to them, and 
I am in his service. Damn Arnold's pass, says they. You 
said you was a British officer, and no money, says they. 
Let's search him. They did so, but found none. Says 
one, he has got money in his boots, let's have them off 
and see. They took off his boots, and there they found 
his papers, but no money. They then examined his saddle, 
but found none. He said, he saw they had such a thirst 
for money, he could put them in a way to get it, if they 
would be directed by him. He asked them for to name 
their sum for to deliver him at King's Bridge. They 
answered him in this way. If we deliver you at King's 
Bridge, we shall be sent to the Sugar House, and you will 
save your money. He says to them, if you will not trust 
my honor, two of you may stay with me, and one shall go 
with a letter which I shall write. Name your sum. The 
sum was agreed upon, but I cannot recollect whether it 
was five hundred or a thousand guineas— the latter I think 
was the sum. They held a consultation a considerable 
time, and finally they told him, if he wrote, a party would 
be sent out and take them, and then they all should be 
prisoners. They said they had concluded to take him to 
the commanding officer on the lines." 

That Andre actually made this statement, or at least 
gave in his own language its essential facts, none can 

* This is probably another version of the production of the 
prisoner's watch. 



358 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDEE. 

doubt, we are told, wlio knew King either pei'sonally or I)}- 
reputation. Circumstantial evidence also testifies to the 
fact. Captain Samuel Bowman of the Massachusetts Line 
(whose character is faithfully represented in that of his 
sons) records that for the twenty-four hours preceding 
the execution he was constantly with the prisoner, and of 
course the conversation turned on the occasion of his con- 
finement. His story is given here as he told it : 

' ' To this gentleman Andre himself related, that he was 
passing down a hill, at the foot of which, under a tree play- 
ing cards, were the three men who took him. They were 
close by the road side, and he had approached very near 
them before either party discovered the other : upon see- 
ing him, they instantly rose and seized their rifles. They 
approached him, and demanded who he was. He im- 
mediately answered that he was a British officer; sup- 
posing, from their being so near the British lines, that 
they belonged to that party. They then seized him, robbed 
him of the few guineas which he had with him, and the 
two watches which he then wore, one of gold and the other 
of silver. He offered to reward them if they would take 
him to New York; they hesitated; and in his (Andre's) 
opinion, the reason why they did not do so was the im- 
possibility on his part to secure to them the performance 
of the promise." 

To all this must be superadded the conviction of Tall- 
madge, to whom the character of both captive and captors 
was more or less known, that the same story, which he also 
heard from his prisoner, was true. He most publicly 
avowed his belief that Andre's boots were taken off in 
pursuit of plunder, not of the proofs of treason ; and that 
had he been in condition to hand over the price demanded, 
he would not have been detained or discovered. The sa- 
gacity and the probity of a very distinguished soldier 



Andre's captuee. 359 

cannot be too highly estimated in considering the author- 
ity this declaration of his bears with it. 

Thus we have before us the story as told respectively by 
Andre and by the captors themselves. What tradition 
relates may be distrusted but not suppressed. It says that 
the captors were in wait for men of their acquaintance 
who had gone into New York with cattle to sell to the 
British, a share of whose money they hoped to win or 
otherwise get from them as they returned. They were 
stretched on the ground playing cards when Andre was 
discovered advancing slowly, and studying his route on a 
paper in his hand. As he drew near, apparently suspect- 
ing the danger that might lurk in such a covert, he quick- 
ened his pace, thrusting the paper into the boot of his off 
leg— a very convenient receptacle for any light, loose 
article. One of the three observed to the others: "Here 
comes a fellow with hoots; let us stop him." They did 
so, and speedily asked him what was that paper he had 
thrust in his boot. The road which he travelled was much 
frequented, and several spectators soon gathered to the 
scene, and by their presence prevented the conclusion of 
a bargain to which both parties were equally well inclined. 

Tradition in this case has little value save as a matter of 
curiosity; but from the other and more respectable au- 
thorities it is difficult to avoid at least the inference that 
but for the strong energetic spirit of Paulding, there is a 
probability that Andre would have got off. It is evident 
that his captors were of wild, unsettled dispositions, en- 
gaged now on an expedition that was certainly unsanc- 
tioned by the laws and practices of the American army. 
That they despoiled their prisoner is also established: 
and but for the papers on his person the matter might 
have ended there. The resolution and sagacity of Pauld- 
ing are testified by the course pursued on this discovery; 



360 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

and while we can easily see how young men in their posi- 
tion delighted in enterprises that had a zest in tlieir very 
risks and unlawfulness, it is as plain that when love of 
plunder and love of country were conspicuously balanced 
before their eyes, the former kicked the beam. Their 
service to America was so great as to completely cover up 
the circumstances that enabled them to render it. It was 
charged that some of them at least were of that large class 
who, changeable as motes in simbeams, were to be found 
by chance arrayed with either side that prevailed in the 
Neutral Ground: — 

Commutare viam, retroque repiilsa reverti 
Xunc hue, nunc illuc, in cunctas denique partes. 

If this be so they are not the tirst whose night's exploit at 
Gadshill is a little gilded over by the day's service at 
Shrewsbury. 

"Washington. Hamilton, and the world have marvelled 
at the failure in this critical moment of Andre's usual 
address and presence of mind. Has it ever been consid- 
ered possible that matters might have been so ordered that 
nothing but force could have got him through? He 
avowed himself British: so did his captors, and seized 
him. There was more probabilitj- to a stranger of their 
being British, than himself. They were near the royal 
lines, and one of them in a royal jacket. He next pro- 
duced Arnold's pass. This was thrown aside; though 
there was nothing but his previous assertion, which was 
founded on their own stratagem, to warrant the suspicion 
that it was not valid. That they thought him a spy when 
they searched him is more than I believe. General Heath 
says they knew not what he was ; nor he, whether his cap- 
tors were Americans. British, or refugees. It is, how- 
ever, proper to say that on every subsequent occasion they 
solemnly and steadily professed the entire purity of their 
conduct and motives in all this transaction. 



CHAPTER XVII. 




Andre a Prisoner in our Lines. — Intercourse with American 
Officers. — Letters to Washington. — Arnold's Escape. 

RTAINING Andre's horse, watch, and other 
effects as lawful prize to be sold for the benefit 
of the seven, the captors handed him over to 
Lieut.-Col. John Jameson who, in command of 
Sheldon's Dragoons and some Connecticut militia, was 
now at North Castle. Jameson was a Virginian; an ap- 
proved soldier, of gentle manners and unstained integrity. 
His manly person, comely face, dark ej-es and hair, and 
polite bearing are commemorated by the ladies of his 
time ; and he was wounded in a service at Valley Forge 
which received Washington's especial thanks. To him 
the prisoner was still John Anderson; and a careful 
scrutiny of the mysterious papers threw no light on the 
business. Pure himself he suspected least of all things 
the guilt of his general ; and though the pass was a puzzle 
to him, he thought the whole affair was a device of the 
enemy to injure Arnold and plant distrust and dissension 
in our camp. So Washington pronounced of his conduct, 
when calm reflection had dispelled the effect of the angry 
disappointment in which he dropped words that stig- 
matized it with bewilderment and egregious folly. To the 
conclusions that Jameson now came, Andre's language 
perhaps aided ; for well he knew that to but one man in 
■our army could he look for relief. If he might meet Ar- 
nold ere the affair leaked out, both might escape together. 
He therefore uttered not a syllable that would betray the 
secret; and with intense satisfaction heard he was to be 
sent to West Point. He already had desired that Arnold 



362 LIFE OF MAJOR AKDRE. 

might be instructed* that John Anderson was arrested 
with a pass signed by the general ; and Jameson thought 
the simplest plan would be to send the prisoner himself 
to head-quarters. It was his duty under ordinary cir- 
cumstances to report the transaction to Arnold; and ac- 
cordingly in a brief note he related what was done, and 
dispatched Lieutenant Allenf and four of the Connecticut 
militia with the letter and cai)tive to West Point. The 
papers he transmitted bj' express to Washington. By 
these means he had discharged his duty, and at the same 
time given such warning of the business that but for the 
Vulture, of whose position he was not aware, and for the 
unexpected delay in his enclosures reaching the chief, Ar- 
nold really could not have escaped. When Jameson there- 
fore is accused of imbecility on this occasion, it is well 
to recall his actual conduct, and to reflect on the insub- 
ordination he would have been charged with, had Arnold 
been innocent, in daring to report directly to the com- 
mander-in-chief, without regard to his lawful superior, 
to whom all details of diity should ordinarily be submitted. 

Andre was already advanced some distance towards 
West Point when, late in the day, ]\Iajor Tallmadge re- 
turned to North Castle from a temporary service on which 
he had been detached. Tallmadge was no ordinary man; 
and though now but twenty-six years of age he possessed 
a remarkably matured judgment. His education was lib- 
eral, and ere entering the army he had taught a public 
school in Connecticut. To the knov\'ledge of mankind, and 
particularly of that portion of it who inhabited this part 
of the country, was added the especial acquirements his 

* I think this statement is open to question — though Lossing 
makes it. 

t Lieutenant Solomon Allen of Murray's Massachusetts militia, 
then stationed at AVest Point. He was a brother of Eev. Thomas 
Allen, the "fighting parson," of Pittsfield, Mass., and himself af- 
terwards became a clergyman. 



ANDEE A PRISONEK. 363 

peculiar service involved: for from early in 1778 to the 
end of the war he was employed by Washington to carry 
on the secret correspondence with our spies in New York, 
and in guarding Westchester county from the depreda- 
tions of Cow-boys, Skinners, and De Lancey's Refugee 
corps. The general character of every inhabitant was a 
necessary part of such an officer's knowledge, and to deal 
with a spy a duty of his every-day life. He had moreover 
a laudable pride in his profession ; and now that accoutre- 
ments came in from France, his troop in Sheldon's dra- 
goons, mounted all on dapple-gray horses, with their 
black bearskin holsters and straps, and helmets crowned 
with horse-tail plumes, presented an effect not often seen 
at the period in our ranks. 

Had Tallmadge returned sooner, or not at all, Andre 
would not have been hung. In the one case, Arnold would 
have been seized on; in the other, both would have got 
away together. For no sooner had Jameson related what 
had transpired, than coupling the letter Arnold had writ- 
ten him respecting this very Anderson with the treacher- 
ous documents and pass, he was convinced of his Gen- 
eral 's treason. He warmly represented the inconsistency 
of Jameson's course, and offered to take on himself all 
blame if permission might be accorded to prevent any 
notice going to Arnold of the capture. Convinced of Ar- 
nold's innocence, Jameson was not the less disturbed by 
his Major's suggestions; and undecided on any persis- 
tent course he consented to detain Andre while the letter 
still went to Arnold. An express was hurried oft" with 
these instructions, and the prisoner's journey interrupted. 
During the part of the night that remained, Jameson and 
Tallmadge took a deliberate survey of their captive. De- 
spite his wayworn air and rusty apparel, there was a 
gentleness and refinement in all he did that bespoke no 
ordinary man ; and the manner of his walk as in gloomy 



364 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDE^. 

meditation he paced the chamber-floor, and the precise 
military mode in which he turned upon his heel, con- 
vinced both that he was no civilian. Early on the morrow 
he was sent over to South or Lower Salem, to the head- 
quarters of Sheldon's regiment. 

About eight A. M. then, on September 24th,* Andre was 
brought to the Gilbert farm-house, and committed to the 
custody of Lieut. King of the Dragoons, who has left us 
this account of what ensued: 

"He looked somewhat like a reduced gentleman. His 
small-clothes were nankeen, with handsome white-top 
boots— in fact, his undress military clothes. His coat 
purple, with gold-lace, worn somewhat threadbare, with 
a small-brimmed tarnished beaver on his head. He wore 
his hair in a queue, with long black beard, and his clothes 
somewhat dirty. In this garb I took charge of him. After 
breakfast my barber came in to dress me, after which I 
requested him to go through the same operation, which he 
did. "VMien the ribbon was taken from his hair I observed 
it full of powder; this circumstance, with others that oc- 
curred, induced me to believe I had no ordinary person 
in charge. He requested permission to take the bed whilst 
his shirt and small-clothes could be washed. I told him 
that was needless, for a shirt was at his serWce, which he 
accepted. "U'e were close pent up in a bedroom, with a 
^-idette at the door and window. There was a spacious 
yard before the door, which he desired he might be per- 
mitted to walk in with me. I accordingly disposed of my 
guard in such a manner as to prevent an escape. While 
walking together he observed he must make a confidant 
of somebody, and he knew not a more proper person than 
myself, as I had appeared to befriend a stranger in dis- 

*An error, lie reached Sands ilills at that hour, hut his ar- 
rival at South Salem was later in the day. 



LETTER TO WASHINGTON. 365' 

tress. After settling the poiut between ourselves, he told 
me who he was, and gave me a short account of himself, 
from the time he was taken in St. Johns in 1775 to that 
time. ' ' 

Returning to the house, writing materials were supplied 
him, and since he was informed that his papers were sent 
to Washington, whose orders, and not Arnold's, should 
decide his condition, he immediately wrote to our com- 
mander. 

ANDRE TO WASHINGTON. 

Salem, the 24th Sept. 1780.— Sir: What I have as yet 
said concerning myself was in the justifiable attempt to be 
extricated ; I am too little accustomed to duplicity to have 
succeeded. 

I beg your Excellency will be persuaded that no altera- 
tion in the temper of my mind, or apprehension for my 
safety, induces me to take the step of addressing you, but 
that it is to rescue myself from an imputation of having 
assumed a mean character for treacherous purposes or 
self-interest, a conduct incompatible with the principles 
that actuate me, as well as with my condition in life. It 
is to vindicate my fame that I speak and not to solicit 
security. The Person in your possession is Major John 
Andre, Adjutant General to the British Army. 

The influence of one Commander in the army of his ad- 
versary is an advantage taken in war. A correspondence 
for this purpose I held ; as confidential, in the present in- 
stance, with His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton. 

To favor it I agreed to meet upon ground not within 
posts of either army a person who was to give me intelli- 
gence; I came up in the Vulture M. of War for this effect 
and was fetched by a boat from the shore to the beach;. 



366 LIFF. OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

being there I was told that the approach of day would pre- 
vent my return and that I must be concealed until the 
next night. I was in my Regimentals and had fairly 
risked my person. 

Against my stipulation my intention and without my 
knowledge before hand I was conducted within one of 
your posts. Your Excellency maj' conceive my sensation 
on this occasion & will imagine how much more I must 
have been affected, by a refusal to reconduct me back the 
next night as I had been brought. Thus become a pris- 
oner I had to concert my escape. I quitted my uniform 
& was passed another way in the night without the Ameri- 
can posts to neutral ground, and informed I was beyond 
all armed parties and left to press for New- York. I was 
taken at Tarry Town by some volunteers. Thus as I have 
had the honour to relate was I betrayed (being Adjutant 
General of the B. Army) into the vile condition of an 
enemy in disguise within your posts. 

Having avowed myself a British Officer, I have nothing 
to reveal but what relates to myself which is true on the 
honour of an officer and a Gentleman. The request I have 
to make to your Excellency and I am conscious I address 
myself well, is that in any rigor policy may dictate, a de- 
cency of conduct towards me [may] mark that tho' un- 
fortunate I am branded with nothing dishonorable as no 
motive could be mine but the service of my King and as I 
was involuntarily an impostor. 

Another request is, that I may be permitted to write an 
open letter to Sir Henry Clinton, and another to a friend, 
for cloaths and linuen. 

I take the liberty to mention the condition of some gen- 
tlemen at Charlestown who being either on parole or under 
protection were ingaged in a Conspiracy against us. Tho' 



INTERCOURSE WITH AMERICAN OFFICERS. 367 

their situation is not exactly similar, they ai'e objects who 
may be set in exchange for me, or are persons whom the 
treatment I receive might atfect. 

It is no less Sir in a confidence in the generosity of your 
mind, than on account of your superior station that I have 
chosen to importune you with this letter. I have the 
honor to be with great respect, Sir, your Excellency's 
most obedient & most humble servant, 

John Andre, Adj. Genl. 

His Excy. Gen. Washington. 

This letter written, a load was lifted from Andre's 
mind. He was no longer compelled to associate with gen- 
tlemen under a false name and guise. Despite Tall- 
madge's previous suspicions, its contents amazed him 
when it was given him to read : but neither he, nor King, 
Bronson,* and the other officers at the post, could remain 
unmoved by the refinement and amiability of their guest. 
His other arts came in aid of his conversational powers, 
and with ready hand and easy light-heartedness of man- 
ner, he sketched his own progress under the rude escort 
of militia to their quarters. "This," said he to Bronson, 
"will give you an idea of the style in which I have had the 
honor to be conducted to my present abode. ' ' With simi- 
lar pleasantries he jaassed away the morning as uncon- 
cernedly as though he were in no danger whatever. 

Let us now follow the letters to Washington and Ar- 
nold. As the first had taken the lower road to Hartford 
through Peekskill and Danbury, he was expected to re- 
turn by the same route; and Jameson's messenger came 
nearly to Danbury in hope to meet him. From prudential 
or other motives, however, Washington had followed the 
way that struck the Hudson higher up. He passed 

*Dr. Isaac Bronson, the surgeon of Sheldon's regiment, of 
"Waterbury, Conn. 



368 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

through Providence, where eager throngs with torches 
and loud acclamations welcomed his appearance. '"^Ve 
may be heateu by the English," he said, pressing the hand 
of Dumas ; " it is the fortune of war, but behold an ai'my 
which they can never conquer. ' ' On the afternoon of the 
24th he reached Fishkill, eighteen miles above Robinson's 
house, and after a brief halt, set forth again in design 
to spend the night with Arnold. Scarce had he ridden 
three miles, however, when unexpectedly he encountered 
the French envoy, M. de Luzerne, on his way also to 
Rochambeau. There was much to be said on both sides; 
the day was advanced, and the minister was urgent that 
Washington should turn liack to the nearest public house. 
He returned thus to Fishkill and here, as has been ob- 
served, at an entertainment provided by General Scott* 
for the distinguished visitors, he sat at board with Joshua 
Smith, each little dreaming of what had transpired since 
the yesterday morning, or of the blow that averted from 
the one should so shortly fall on the other. On the 25th, 
his baggage was forwarded betimes to Robinson's house, 
with intimation that "Washington and his suite would be 
there to breakfast. 

Winding through rugged hills that Chastellux describes 
as the proper abode of bears, the main road approached 
the Hudson but a little above West Point; and here 
Washington turned his horse into a country path which 
descended to the stream. La Fayette remonstrated at the 
diversion: they were already late, and their hostess ex- 
pected them. "Ah," said Washington, "I know you 
young men are all in love with Mrs. Arnold, and wish to 
get where she is as soon as possible. You may go and take 
your breakfast with her, and tell her not to wait for me. 
I must ride down and examine the redoubts on this side 
of the river, and will be there in a short time." But his 

*Jolm Morin Scott. 



Arnold's escape. 369 

suite remained also, save two aides who rode on with the 
message.* 

Breakfast was served without delay on their arrival at 
Robinson's, and with Arnold's family and Burnet and 
some other officers they sat down in the low-ceiled room 
that still I'emains iiuehanged.t Heavy beams extend 
above; and wainscotting jjrotects a fireplace without a 
mantelpiece. Opening into this was another room used 
by Arnold as an office. Wliile at table, a letter was de- 
livered to the General. It was Jameson's of the 23rd, 
now brought by Allen, that told him of Andre's capture, 
of his detention, and of the transmission to Washington 
of the paijers that he bore. Burnet, McHenry, and others 
afterwards remarked on the tranquillity with which he 
received the terrible tidings this scroll conveyed. Some 
little embarrassment he indeed betrayed, but nothing in 
his manner or words indicated its momentous nature or 
cause. He retained his place for several minutes, joining 
in the general conversation : then pleading business, he 
begged his guests to make themselves at home while he 
was for a little absent from them. For he well knew that 
he had not a minute to lose. It was now two full days 
sine 3 Andre was taken, and Washington might in any in- 
stant come upon him in full jiossession of his guilty secret. 
To the Aides he said that he was compelled to cross to 
West Point without delay, and bade them tell their chief 
on arriving that he would speedily return. 

But his wife's experienced eye had already detected an 
agitation in her husband's manner which escaped those 
less observant: and while he made his apologies to his 
guests, she had also risen from the board, and followed 

* Whether these were Hamilton and McHenry or Shaw and Mc- 
Henry, I am not clear. See Hamilton Hist. Eep. ii. 54. Cooper's 
Trav. Bach. i. 211. Penn. Pacl-et, Oct. 3, ITSO. Thacher, r?G;3. 

t The house has since been burned. 
24 



370 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

him from the apartment. Peremptorily ordering Allen 
to mention to no one that he had brought a letter from 
Jameson, he hade the coxswain of his barge be summoned 
and a horse prepared. ••Any horse," he cried,— "even 
a wagon-horse!" Then he repaired to Mrs. Arnold's 
chamber and with stern brevity- apprised her that they 
must at once part, and perhaps forever: that his life de- 
pended on his instant flight. The panic-struck woman 
screamed loudly while he. bidding the maid whom the 
outcry had already alarmed to attend her mistress, pressed 
her swooning form to his breast, gave a hasty kiss to his 
unconscious child, and passed again to the breakfast- 
room to mention the lady's imexpocted illness.* At the 
door he leaped on the horse of one of his aides, and with- 
out other attendance than that of [James] Larvey, his 
coxswain, who followed on foot, dashed down the path 
which in half a mile brought him to the water-side; 
Larvey shouting to the bargemen as he descended to 
hasten to their places. Seizing the holsters from his 
saddle-bow. Arnold sprang into the boat, and in his eager- 
ness to be gone would have had the bowman push off ere 
all the men were mustered. In a moment they were in the 
stream; and with nervous anxiety, but apparently reso- 
lute not to be taken alive, he reprimed his pistols, and 
retaining them in his hands kept cocking and half-cocking 
them along all the way. He sat it would seem in the 
prow: and when the bow-oarsman answering told him 
that in their haste the crew had brought no weapons save 
two swords, his vexation was not concealed. However, 
the tide was in liis favor, and he hurried them on. He 
hore a flag, he said, to the Vulture, seventeen or eight- 
een miles below, and must reach her in all haste, to re- 
turn to meet Washington at his quarters; when two 

* I doubt this. He left her in the care of his aide. Major Franks, 
■who sent for Dr. Eustis, the post surgeon. 




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Arnold's escape. 371 

gallons of rum should reward their labor. The oarsmen, 
observes Washington, "were very clever fellows, and 
some of the better class of soldiery." Quickened by 
their general 's words, they bent to their work and the 
barge spun through the waters. Well might Arnold be 
in haste, for behind him and on either side was danger. 
As he neared King's Ferry, the ship came broadly into 
view, riding at anchor a little below the mooring where 
Andre left her and still waiting his return. Gliding be- 
tween Verplanck's and Stony Points, Livingston from the 
shore in amazement recognized his commander waving 
as a white flag the handkerchief he had bound to the end 
of his walking-stick: and with no suspicion of the plot 
was nevertheless so surprised at the scene that he would 
fain have manned a guard-boat and come alongside of 
Arnold to know the meaning of such anomalous proce- 
dures. But the crews were dispersed on shore, and ere 
anything could be done the barge was under the Vulture's 
batteries. Livingston* afterwards thought his presence 
in this juncture would have so disturbed the traitor that 
his secret would have escaped, and his person probably 
been easily seized; but it is questionable whether any- 
thing could now have shaken Arnold's composure, and 
whether on the first attempt at restraint he would not 
have blown out Livingston's brains. 

Alongside of the ship, Arnold unbound his handker- 
chief and wiped from his brow the great beads which 
hung there. Hastening on board, he explained to Suth- 
erland and Robinson the position of affairs, and calling 
up the bargemen, endeavored to allure them into the 
king's service under threats of retaining them else as 

* When the importance of Colonel Livingston's services at this 
time is considered it is matter of great regret that there is no ma- 
terial for an adequate notice of him, nor, so far as I can find, any 
portrait. 



,i(2 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

prisoners. The ooxwain Larvey sturdily rofusod. "If 
General Arnold likes the King of P^ngland, let him serve 
him," quoth he; "ire love our eountry, and intend to live 
or die in support of her cause:" and so said his six com- 
rades.* Sutherland, though indigiumt, would not inter- 
fere with Arnold's orders. He bade Larvey go with his 
flag to shore and procure some necessaries for the party; 
and when they reached New York Clinton at once gave 
them their i)arole: an unusual favor to private men. 
Two of them, English deserters, had wept bitterly on the 
ship at the prospect of going to New York to be identified 
and hanged : once there, they slipped on board a letter of 
marque just ready to sail, and got away undiscovered. 
The remainder were released with a parting word and 
some money from Arnold, and wei'e soon again with tlieir 
friends. 

There was nothing to keep the Vulture longer, after a 
flag had been sent to Verplanck's with letters to Wash- 
ington from Arnold and Kobiuson. The first, with an 
enclosed letter to his wife and assurances of her innocence 
and entreaties for her protection, contained also some 
protestations of integrity. The last is as follows:— 

ROBINSON TO WASHINGTON. 

Vulture off Sinsink, Sept. 2oth, 1780.— Sir: I am this 
moment informed that ^lajoi' Andre, Adjutant Genl. of 
His Majesty's Army in America, is detained as a prisoner 
by the army under your command. It is therefore in- 

* Heath says, when Larvey was oflfered a commission in the 

British service, he swore ho would be before he fought on 

both sides; but that discontented at not receiving from the .\meri- 
cans wliat the enemy had proposed, he sought and got his discharge 
from our army. That Arnold also gave the crew their clioice of 
goine ashore or of enlisting with liim: that one or two stayed, and 
the rest were sent ashore with Larvey, is also asserted by Heath, 
whose authority here is very good indeed. (See note p, 329). — 
[Ed] 



ROBINSON TO WASHINGTON. 373 

cumbent on me to inform you of the manner of his falling 
into your hands : He went up with a flag, at the request of 
General Arnold, on publick business with him, and had 
his permit to return by land to New- York; under these 
circumstances Major Andre cannot be detained by you, 
without the greatest violation of flags, and contrary to the 
custom and usage of all nations, and as I imagine you will 
see this matter in the same point of view as I do, I must 
desire you will order him to be set at liberty, and allowed 
to return immediately; every step Major Andre took was 
by the advice and direction of General Arnold, even that 
of taking a feigned name, and of course not liable to cen- 
sure for it. I am, Sir, not forgetting our former ac- 
quaintance, your very H. Sert. 

Bev. Robinson, Colo. 

The anchor was weighed, and on the flag's return the 
ship made sail that afternoon, and reached New York the 
next morning. 

Meanwhile Jameson's courier in quest of Washington 
had passed through South Salem and probably received 
there Andre's letter of the 24th.* He came to Robinson's 
house after the chief had crossed the river. For when he 
heard on arrival near noon, and a full hour after Arnold's 
departure, what that officer had said and done, Washing- 
ton thought there was no better time for examining the 
works at West Point than when its commander was on the 
spot. After a hurried bi'eakfast, he hastened away to be 
l)ack ere dinner-time; followed by La Fayette and all his 
suite save Hamilton. As they crossed the river, over- 
hung with lofty crags and hills, Washington listened for 
the thirteen great guns that should salute his approach. 
The echoing thunders of cannon here reverberating from 
the opposite banks had accpiired a sort of celebrity. But 

* He did.— Ed. 



374 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

no bustle of preparation greeted his coming, nor was there 
any exhibition of the formal j^omp and ceremony of war. 
The party were permitted to land with no acknowledg- 
ment of its quality, and the commanding officer had barely 
time to hurry down the path to receive it. 

To a character of Washington's punctilio this manner 
of reception was not agreeable. Lamb in some confusion 
apologized for it by stating the unexpected nature of the 
visit. "How!" said the Chief, "is not General Arnold 
here?" "No, sir, we have not seen him on this side of 
the river to-day." Washington said afterwards that on 
this he was struck with the impropriety of Arnold's con- 
duct, and had some misgivings; but he never for a mo- 
ment suspected the real cause. The party climbed the 
hill, and after an hour or two of general inspection and 
the tardy salute of thirteen guns being at last rendered, 
it returned to the other shore. 

As they drew near Robinson's house, Hamilton was 
seen excitedly pacing the court-yard with a laai'cel of 
papers in his hands. These were Jameson's enclosures 
that had arrived about 2 P. M., and which in virtue of his 
post the secretary had opened in his chief's absence. Re- 
tiring together to their examination, they soon possessed 
Arnold's secret. It was at once resolved to arrest him if 
possible, and Hamilton and McHenry were despatched at 
full gallop to Verplanck's for this end. But it was 4 P. M. 
when they started in pursuit of a man who had left at 10 
A. M. ; who, ere their feet were in the stirrui^s, must have 
been under the Vulture's guns. By 7 P. M., notice that the 
vessel was gone with Arnold to New York came with 
Robinson's and the traitor's letters to head-quarters. 

Washington had not noised the treason. He saw Mrs. 
Arnold, whose hysterical passion satisfied all about her 
that she could communicate nothing in regard to the busi- 



THE TBEASON DISCOVERED. 375 

ness;* and to La Fayette and Knox, with eyes suffused, 
he had privately revealed the affair. "Arnold is a traitor 
and has fled to the British," said he. "Whom can we 
trust now?" Biit the gravity of the risk was not lost on 
him : the very day had doubtless arrived that had origin- 
ally been fixed on for the execution of the design ; and as 
the wind was favorable for an ascending fleet, there was 
no knowing but what an attack might be made that very 
night. Brief sjDace sufficed to show that every thing pos- 
sible had been done to facilitate it. The works were found 
neglected; the troops dispersed. Forthwith the garri- 
son was armed to the teeth, and the lines manned. Cour- 
iers were now sent in every direction, bringing up detach- 
ments of the garrison ; warning officers to stand on their 
guard; and rousing with the alarm the camp at Tappan 
from its midnight slumbers. When he perceived the 
condition of his hostess, Washington with entire calmness 
bade the guests sit down without ceremony, since her ill- 
ness and Arnold's absence left no other alternative: and 
no stranger would have conjectured from his manner that 
he was in possession of the fatal secret.f 

Ere the cloth was removed, the affair began to leak out 
in whispers among the guests ; and it was not until the 
26th or 27th that it was buzzed openly abroad. But when 
Arnold's letter came in, the rage which Washington had 
so far kept down seemed about to obtain full sway ; and 
they who were accustomed to note his every change of 
mood or countenance saw, or thought they saw, according 

*She was soon sent to Philadelphia, escorted by Major Franks, 
to rejoin her family. Her father, apprehensive lest the Philadel- 
phia populace should mob her on account of her supposed com- 
plicity with her hushand, addressed Congress on her behalf, in 
the letter which is reproduced on the opposite page — and for the 
use of which I am indebted to Dr. Emmet. — [Ed.] 

t Mr. Sargent is in error here; this paragraph belongs to the 
breakfast, not the evening meal. 



376 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDBE. 

to La Fayette, the bursting of a mighty storm of wrath. 
But every angry word was suppressed. "Go," he said 
to an aide, "to ilrs. Arnold, and inform her that thougli 
my duty required no means should be neglected to arrest 
General Arnold, I have great pleasure in acquainting her 
that he is now safe on board a British vessel of war."* 

As may be supposed, where no one Icnew how far the 
treason had extended or by what means it had been carried 
on, the wildest runtors flew from mouth to mouth ; some 
tolera])ly true, many intolerably unfounded. Chief among 
these was the still repeated tale that .\.ndre had penetrated 
our works at West Point, when in truth he had been no 
nearer to them than the outside of the forts at King's 
Ferry, many miles below. The bargemen were lately and 
may yet be living in the full belief that they had carried 
Arnold and Andre up from Smith's house to head-quar- 
ters ; and described the occasion with a minuteness that ex- 
tends to e^'ery article of the supposed spy's apparel. Let- 
ters of the period from our army reported that disguised 

*Travcliiig Bachelor i. '?l(i. In this work ilr. Cooper gives 
several particulars of Arnold's treason, that possess a particular 
value from the authorities which supplied them. He heard not 
only La Fayette's recollections declared forty-five years later on 
the very ground, hut also had "Arnold's own statement from a 
British officer, who was present when the latter related his escape 
at a dinner given in Xew York, with an impudence that was 
scarcely less remarkable than his surprising self-possession." That 
details so valuable are so little referred to proceeds perhaps from 
the exceeding diilness of the book; but La Fayette's evidence, 
given from recollections that in the outset were tinged with great 
excitement, must be cautiously received. Thus to Mr. Cooper he 
said that when McIIenry entered the chamber ^vhere he was dress- 
ing for dinner, and carried off his pistols to pursue Arnold, not a 
word was said of the plot; nor was it apparently communicated 
to him till he and Knox learned it together from Washington. In 
his ilemoirs, however, the marquis distinctly asserts that "Gen- 
eral Washington and F' discovered the conspiracy. It is possible 
that Jlarbois may have derived from this source some of his in- 
formation. 



RUMOURS OF THE PAY. 377 

as Smith's serviug-man he had gone all through our camp ; 
that he was recognized and betrayed by a British deserter, 
and brought in with his arms pinioned ; and that Wash- 
ington and La Fayette were to have slept that night at 
Smith's house, where in the dead of darlmess Robinson 
with a picked party was to seize them ; on which Arnold 
should yield West Point. The marquis himself conceived 
that both he and Luzerne would on the day of Arnold's 
flight hav^ been prisoners, but for Andre's detection. 
The best British contemporary gossip says that he was 
betrayed by Smith, whose hanging was demanded by many 
people in New York; that on his third return froma clan- 
destine meeting with Arnold, he was stopped by some 
Americans who at first dismissed but afterward pursued 
and stripped him of his watch and money: whereon he 
advised them to let him go, since if they took him to their 
officers, the spoil would be forfeited : that he did not offer 
them these things when they seized him : that to Wash- 
ington he confessed nothing but that he was a spy, until 
some of our own spies identified him, two of whom had 
long resided in New York as loyalists : that it was Arnold's 
disapproval which prevented his return by a flag; and 
that he would give no explanation of the papers he bore 
or of the connections he had formed in our army. These 
accounts, mixed with much error, shadow forth certain 
facts and undoubtedly came from Andre's near friends. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 




Andre brought to West Point. — Sent to Tappan. — His Case sub- 
mitted to a Court of Enquiry. — Its Decision approved by 
Washington. 

T has been reported that Arnold bade his wife 
burn all his papers. This she did not do ; and 
tliey -were of course now seized, and eventnally 
^ scattered to the four winds of heaven. From 
these, and from information of his recent movements, a 
ray of liglit began to penetrate the mystery. Orders 
were already sent that Andre should be brought up ; at 7 
P. M. of the 25th, these were repeated, with injunctions to 
guard against his escape. "I would not wish Andre to 
be treated with insult," wrote Washington; "but he does 
not ap]iear to stand upon the footing of a common i^ris- 
oner of war, and therefore he is not entitled to the usual 
indulgence which they receive, and is to be most closely 
and narrowly watched." The first courier reached Shel- 
don's post at midnight. Andre was in bed at the time, 
but he arose and prepared to obey the orders. A more 
dismal a night for so dismal a journey could not have been 
found. The rain fell heavily and the skies were dark and 
scowling, when he parted with companions to whom he 
avowed so many obligations, and among whom, he said, 
whatever happened to him he could never thenceforth 
recognize a foe. The strong escort that guarded him was 
led by King; and when it came to North Salem meeting- 
house, he met a second express, who bade him change his 
route. On the way, probably as a further precaution. 
Tallmadge and two other officers* joined the party that. 

* Captains IToogland and Eogers — all of Sheldon's. — [Ed.] 



ANDRE AT WEST POINT. 379 

marching all night, came to Robinson's liouse on the 
morning of Tuesday, the 26th September. Smith, who 
had already been brought there a prisoner, gives a very 
particular but unluckily not very probable account of 
Andre's arrival. There may be some truth in his story 
of his own reception, for both Hamilton and Harrison 
state under oath that Washington spoke warmly on the 
occasion, and used strong language to wring forth a con- 
fession of his guilty dealings. 

"I answered that no part of my conduct could justify 
the charge, as General Arnold if present would prove; 
that what I had done of a ijublic nature was by the direc- 
tion of that general, and if wrong he was amenable ; not 
me, for acting agreeably to his orders. He immediately 
replied, 'Sir, do you know that General Arnold has fled, 
and that Mr. Anderson whom you have piloted through 
our lines, proves to be Major John Andre, the adjutant 
general of the British army, now our prisoner! I expect 
him here, under a guard of one hundred horse, to meet his 
fate as a spy, and unless you confess who were your ac- 
comi)lices, I shall suspend you both on yonder tree,' point- 
ing to a tree before the door. He then ordered the guards 
to take me away." 

About two hours later, he continues, he heard the tramp 
of horses, and soon after the voice of Andre blended with 
those of Washington and his suite. Their conversation- 
was conducted in an adjoining apartment, and he does not 
pretend to repeat it: but he intimates that its tendency 
was rather to soothe than to intimidate the prisoner, and 
to procure from him further information of the conspir- 
acy. But Smith, like Marbois, must always be received 
distrustfully, and if he means here that Andre was per- 
sonally examined by Washington, he is utterly wrong. 
Washington saw Tallmadge indeed and asked him many 



580 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

questions; but he declined having the prisoner brought 
before him: and Talhnadgo always believed that, incred- 
ible as it may seem, he never saw Andre in all his con- 
finement. 

In fact, however, I suppose there can be little question 
that while every honest man in the army was enraged at 
this nefarious attem])t to defraud him of his liberty and to 
win by guile what the sword could not accomj)lisli, Wash- 
ington and some of his nearest generals had peculiar cause 
for indignation. The jiatron and the supporters of 
Arnold knew too well the deadly hostility of many power- 
ful civilians to doubt now the handle that might bo made 
of this transaction. St. Clair and Schuyler had already 
suffered imder the calumnioiis suspicions of the people 
they defended; and the ridiculously false but industri- 
ously propagated story, that the evacuation of Ticonder- 
oga was purchased by Burgoj-ne with silver balls which, 
cast into our lines, were collected by St. Clair and divided 
between Schuyler and himself, was not discountenanced 
by the action of Congress. Schuyler indeed, a gentle- 
man by birth, education, and habit, had refused longer to 
hold a commission which subjected him to unmerited igno- 
miny; but St. Clair's fortune was scanty, and though even 
now he was unjustly susj^ected of corrupt dealings with 
the enemy, he continued to serve in the field with unabated 
zeal. Nor was "Washington himself, long distrusted by 
many in Congress, unconscious of the motive that caused 
his army to be attended by a permanent committee of that 
body; and his earnest and fruitful confidence in Arnold 
gave additional vigor to his resentment at the reward his 
confidence had received. ""Whom can we trust now?"— 
he well might ask; and in the extremity of his anger, 
there can be no doubt as to what his favorite's fate would 
have been, had the fortunes of war brought him into 






'fi/rre. 












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LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE COXTIXEXTAL CONGRESS. 

On Behalf of Mrs. Arnold, by her Father. 

From the Emmet Collection. (Never before reproduced.) 



INDIGNATION OF THE ARMY. 381 

American hands. In after life, even in the most unre- 
strained hours of social ease, he could not refer to the ab- 
sconding officer without the most unmitigated terms of 
contempt: and at the existing moment he seems evidently 
to have shared in the universal sentiment of the army, that 
by every means in their power, a dreadful punishmenr 
should be inflicted on the prisoners in his hands who stood 
nearest to the original offence. His letters written prior 
to the report of the Board of Officers show very clearly 
the conviction that Andre was a spy, and that Smith was 
equally worthy of death. To the President of Congress 
he comments (Sept. 26th) on Andre's letter of the 24th 
as "endeavoring to show that he did not come under the 
description of a spy." On the same date a writer from 
the camp expresses the belief that both prisoners "will 
grace a gallows this day." On the 30th, the press con- 
trolled by the party that had so stoutly opposed Arnold 
in Philadelphia, the seat of Congress, loudly directed pub- 
lic opinion to those who as senators or in social life were 
his friends, as the sharers of his guilt; and pointed to 
Mrs. Arnold as an accomplice. On the same day, with 
Arnold's effigy those of Andre and Smith were borne 
through the streets, hanging from a gallows: "The 
Adjutant-General of the British Army and Joe Smith; 
the first hanged as a spy and the other as a traitor to his 
country." Truly, both yet lived, and one was never 
hanged at all: but this exhibition of political feeling 
shows very clearly how bitter might have been the heats 
had no punishment been inflicted on any offender.* Even 
in the higher grades of the army, there was a yearning 

* There is no means of ascertaining whether the debates in Con- 
gress involved at this time the character for integrity of Arnold's 
previous supporters; but a letter from Washington to Eeed (Oct. 
18, 1780), shows that the promulgation of Arnold's private corres- 
pondence had occasioned Eeed to inquire into the Chief's sym- 
pathy with the latter in his troubles at Phihidelphia, and to in- 



3S2 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

for vengeance, mingled with abhorrence of the wrong and 
discontent with the friends of its author. Over every 
other consideration, however, there prevailed in the 
breasts of these brave and good men unutterable loathing 
and supreme hatred for every develojiment of the ci-irae 
that would lia\e bartered away themselves and their con- 
stituents as though they had been beasts of the field.t 

On the evening of the 26th, the prisoners were trans- 
ported from Robinson's house across the river and se- 
curely bestowed at West Point. On the 27th Washing- 
ton, having probably resolved on the course eventually 
pursued, sent secret orders to Greene that he should re- 
ceive them in camp on the ensuing day: 

' ' They will be under an escort of horse, and I wish you 
to have separate houses in camp ready for their reception, 
in which they may be kept perfectly secure; and also 
strong, trusty guards trebly officered, that a part may be 
constantly in the room with them. They have not been 
permitted to be together, and must still be kept apart. I 
would wish the room for Mr. Andre to be a decent one, 
and that he may be treated with ci^•ility ; but that he may 

veigh against Schuyler. Washington's reply cleared his o\m skirts 
from any unfair preference for Arnold, and discredits the impu- 
tations on Sclunler's character. As Eeed's letter is not given, 
its nature can only be inferred from the reply to it; for which 
see I\eed"s Reed, ii., 277. 

t "Your infamous Arnold has abandoned himself to an eternal 
infamy! "\Tliat demon impelled him to take this detestable step? 

Is his wife the cause or only the occasion of the crime? Is 

mixed with this horrible affair? Is Smith hanged? Cannot Andr6 
he hanged? I am very curious to hear all the details of this 
atrocity; be kind enough to give them to me. Arnold is not the 
only man whom I blame; he who once has made the country sus- 
picious of his virtue is not tbe most culpable, when the blind and 
criminal confidence that is put in him makes him a traitor. That's 
between vou and me. — Col. Loiiis de Fleurv to Steuben, Oct. 6, 
1780. Kapp's Steuben, ()35. 



ANDRE SENT TO TAPPAN. 383 

be SO guarded as to preclude a possibility of his escaping, 
which he will most certainly attempt to effect, if it shall 
seem practicable in the most distant degree." 

Accordingly on the morning of the 28th, they were 
brought down to the landing-place; when, says Smitli, "I 
saw the amiable Andre near me, amongst a crowd of offi- 
cers. On stretching my hand out and preparing to ad- 
dress him, I was told by Major Tallmadge sternly that no 
conversation must take place between us. " Each was seat- 
ed in a barge well manned, and with a favoring tide was 
soon at Stony Point. Here at the King's Perry landing, a 
detachment of the 2nd Light Dragoons was in waiting. 
Tallmadge took the command and, with Andre in the rear 
and his comiianion in the van, they rode away through 
Haverstraw towards Tappan (or Orangetown, as it was 
often called), where lay the main army. A march of ten 
miles brought them to the house of Mr. John Coe where, 
while Tallmadge vigilantly posted videttes and sentinels, 
the party dined. They resumed their journey after din- 
ner and by a circuitous route reached Tappan about dusk. 
The squadron was paraded before the church in which 
Smith was confined for the night; and quarters were pro- 
vided for Andre at tlie house of a Mr. Mabie, which, 
though altered within, still stands as the '76 Tavern. 
Here every attention that circumstances admitted was 
rendered him. But for a fuller account of this day 's pro- 
ceedings we are indebted to the recollections of Tall- 
madge. Seated side by side in the boat that bore them 
down the Hudson, the conversation between the two sol- 
diers was free and unreserved. The one was as anxious to 
listen as the other was to communicate; for though pro- 
fessional foes on the field, they were both kind-hearted 
gentlemen. Andre unhesitatingly pointed out the spot 
on the west bank where it was arranged that, in the event 



381 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

of the conspiracy's success, he was to have debarked at 
the head of a picked corps, and passed unopposed up the 
steep to the i-ear of Fort Putnam. The acquisition of 
this key to all the works would, as Tallmadge observes, in 
every probability have given to Andre a very large part 
of the praises siire to follow in the train of Clinton's tri- 
xrmph; and the narrator's animation, as he painted the 
means by which he would have conducted his detachment, 
was not disturbed by an inquiry as to the rewards in store 
for him. Military glory was all he sought, was his i-eply : 
the applause of his King and his country would overpay 
his services ; perhaps a brigadiership might be bestowed. 
In all this passage, he seems to have been free from ap- 
prehensions as to his ultimate prosi>ects. It was not until 
he had taken horse for the Clove that he interrogated his 
companion and keeper in regard to the treatment he was 
likely to receive from our hands.* Tallmadge candidly 
reminded him of the fate of his own classmate and friend, 
Xathan Hale. "Yes, he was hanged as a spy," quoth 
Andre: "hut surely you do not consider his case and 
mine alike?" ''They are precisely similar, and similar 
will be your fate," was the answer. It shook the prison- 
er's fortitude, and his lively discourse was chilled. The 
friendly offer of the American to conceal the deficiencies 
of his toilet by the loan of a dragoon cloak was declined, 
although it had been suggested by Andre's own comments 
upon the shabby apparel he was wearing; but Tall- 
madge 's urgency at length procured its acceptance. En- 
veloped in its folds, he came into our quarters.^ 

"W'e may gather from Tallmadge 's reminiscences that 
till he drew near Tappan, Andre had little doubt that the 
Americans, though exasperated at what had occurred, 

* This is an error. The conversation was in the boat. — [Ed."] 
fSee also Tallmadge's Letter in Appendix Xo. IV. 



ANDRE SENT TO TAPPAN. 385 

could not fail to view him as at tlie most but a spy in ap- 
pearance and involuntarily; that beyond some personal 
discomforts, he had nothing to fear. The ominous warn- 
ing of Tallmadge was confirmed by the general order is- 
sued by Greene on the 26th, when, as senior officer in 
Washington's absence, he promulgated to the army the 
explanation of the alarm which had resounded through 
the camp : 

"TJeadquaifers, Orange Town, Sept. 26, 1780.— Trea- 
son of the blackest dye was yesterday discovered. Gen- 
eral Arnold, who commanded at West Point, lost to every 
sentiment of honour, of private and public obligation, 
was about to deliver that important post into the hands of 
the enemy. Such an event must have given the American 
cause a deadly wound, if not a fatal stab. Happily the 
Treason has been timely discovered to prevent the fatal 
misfortune. The Providential train of circumstances 
which led to it affords the most convincing proofs that the 
Liberties of America are the objects of Divine Protection^ 
At the same time that the Treason is to be regretted, the 
General cannot help congratulating the army in the happy 
discovery. Our enemies despairing of carrying their 
point by force, are practising every base art to effect, by 
bribery and corruption, what they cannot accomplish irt 
a manly way. Great honour is due to the American army 
that this is the first instance of Treason of the kind, where 
many were to be expected from the nature of the dispute. 
And nothing is so bright an ornament in the character of 
the American Soldiers as their having been proof against 
all tlie arts and seductions of an insidious enemy. 

Arnold has made his escape to the enemy, but Major 
Andre, the Adjutant General of the British Army, who 
came out- as a spy to negotiate the business, is our pris- 
oner. His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief has ar- 

25 



386 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

rived at West Point from Hartford, and is no doubt tak- 
ing proper measures to unravel fully so hellish a plott." 

This language was doubtless communicated to Andre 
"by some of his American companions, and must have 
shocked his anticipations of a more lenient interi)retation 
of his character. Meanwhile, however, his friends were 
acting with promptitude in the line their sense of duty 
dictated. Arnold's letter of the 25th to Washington had 
not touched on Andre's condition, though it averred the 
innocence of his aides and of Smith. It is perhaps there- 
fore not unfair to infer that at the moment he did not 
consider the prisoner in peril of life. Eobinson at the 
same time had assured Washington that Andre was so 
covered with flags and safe-conducts that even to arrest 
him was a violation of the laws of war. On their report, 
Clinton at once reclaimed his Adjutant-General, enclosing 
Arnold's statement of the case. 

CLINTOK TO WASHINGTON. 

Xew York, Sept. 26, 1780.— Sir: Being informed that 
the King's Adjutant Genl. in America has been stopt un- 
der Major Genl. Arnold's passports, and is detained a 
prisoner in your Excellency's army, I have the honor to 
inform you. Sir, that I permitted Major Andre to go to 
Major General Arnold, at the particular request of that 
General Officer; You will perceive. Sir, by the enclosed 
paper, that a flag of Truce was sent to receive Major 
Andre, and passports granted for his return. I there- 
fore can have no doubt but your Excellency will imme- 
diately direct that this officer has permission to return to 
my oi'ders in Xew York. 1 have the honor to be, (S;c. 

AEXOLD TO CLINTON. 

New York, 26 September, 1780.— Sir: in answer to 
your Excellency's message, respecting your Adjutant- 



WASHINGTON CONVENES A BOARD OF ENQUIRY. R87 

General, Major Andre, and desiring my idea of the reas- 
ons why he is detained, being under my passports, I have 
the honor to inform you. Sir, that I apprehend a few hours 
must restore Major Andre to your Excellency's orders, 
as that officer is assuredly under the protection of a flag 
of truce sent by me to him for the purpose of a conver- 
sation, which I requested to hold with him relating to my- 
self, and which I wished to communicate through that of- 
ficer to your Excellency. I commanded at the time at 
West Point, and had an undoubted right to send my flag 
of truce for Major Andre, who came to me under that pro- 
tection, and, having held my conversation with him, I de- 
livered him confidential papers in my own handwriting to 
deliver to your Excellency; thinking it much properer 
he should return by land, I directed him to make use of the 
feigned name of John Anderson, under which he had, by 
my direction, come on shore, and gave him my passports 
to go to the White Plains on his way to New York. This 
officer therefore cannot fail of being immediately sent to 
New York, as he was invited to a conversation with me, 
for which I sent him a flag of truce, and finally gave him 
passports for his safe return to your Excellency; all of 
which I had then a right to do, being in the actual service 
of America, under the orders of General Washington, 
and commanding general at West Point and its depen- 
dencies. I have the honor to be, &c. 

To these communications no answer was at present 
given. Washington was not perhaps sorry to keep the 
enemy in such suspense concerning Andre's fate, as 
would afford ample opportunity of preparing for a vigor- 
ous defense at West Point ere any movement against it 
should be undertaken. He also probably wished to ob- 
tain the opinion of his generals before he replied. Ac- 
cordingly, having on the evening of the 28th repaired to 



38S LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

camp, he caused a board of every general officer present 
with the army to be convened.* Smith dechires the gen- 
eral impression to have been that its object was rather to 
determine once for all the limits within which a flag should 
protect its bearer— for there had been some previous dif- 
ficulties on this point— rather than to decide on Andre's 
immediate fate. This assertion is manifestly absurd. 
There is every reason to believe that nothing less was de- 
signed than what is proved by the record : and besides, 
it must not be forgotten that from the beginning Wash- 
ington had apparently made up his mind respecting the 
prisoner's character. His own judgment we may believe 
would have given him to death ; but with the caution and 
wisdom that always characterized the commander-in- 
chief, he refrained from acting in so serious a matter until 
he had heard the best opinions at his disposal. This was 
a course of which justice must approve. That his anger 
should now be fearfully roused can hardly be questioned. 
The very applause which was bestowed on its restraint 
shows its force and strength. Long after his death, one 
who had studied him narrowly observed that Washing- 
ton's "temper was naturally irritable and high-toned, but 
reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual 
ascendancy over it. If ever, however, it broke its bounds, 
he was most tremendous in his wrath." It should be 
added that the storm seldom rose without good cause; 
and never was there greater provocation than here. The 

*So it is authoritatively stated; vet where were Wayue and 
Irvine? Perhaps a laudable delicacy restrained these gentlemen 
from deciding on the fate of an enemy whose satire had so lately 
been personally aimed at themselves in The Cow-Chace. 

Sparks, in 1834, asked Tallmadge the reason for Wayne's omis- 
sion, and got the incisive reply: "None durst ask him (Washing- 
ton) the reason why A. was appointed and B. omitted." Johnson 
(Life of Greene) says Wayne declined. — Crisis of the Bevolution, p. 
59. 



ANDRE BEOTJGHT BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL. 389 

thought that he so long warmed in his bosom the serpent 
that had turned to sting him; the disagreeable uncer- 
tainty of the plot's extent; the public danger, and the 
damage his own prestige and that of the cause might re- 
ceive in Congress and with the French ; everything com- 
bined to incense him.* That he should resolve therefore, 
if the measure accorded as well with the sense of justice 
of others as with his own, to make such an example in this 
case as would eft'ectually prevent any further tam- 
pering with his subordinates, is as natural as probable. 
His position warrants the idea. He had hazarded every- 
thing — life, fortune, reputation, domestic happiness— on 
the risk of success; and now after five years of battling 
it out with the public enemy and with his own, at a mo- 
ment when America could hardly stagger along, when all 
his soul was bent on maintaining matters, to have the i^rize 
snatched at in this underhand manner was too much for 
human endurance. Had he not himself deemed Andre a 
spy he would not, in my opinion, have summoned the 
board. And indeed there is good I'eason to believe that 
even before they came together, some of our principal 
generals had learned enough of the facts of the case to 
satisfy them of the improbability of their arriving at any 
other conclusion than that the prisoner was an undoubted 

spy-t 

On Friday then, the 29th September, just one week 

* The correspondence between M. de Ternay and the Count de 
Yergennes shows how seriously, even in its lopped and mutilated 
state, the plot affected the opinions and estimates of our allies. 
The party-heats of Congress were unusually violent at this period, 
and its committee that attended the camp was falling into an un- 
popularity by reason of the tincture of "army principles" it had 
imbibed. See Sparks' Wash. vii. 226, 241. 

t "He has a great antipathy to spies, although he employs them 
himself, and an utter aversion to all Indians," was written of 
Washington in the beginning of 1780. 



390 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

siuee be had started from Smith's house for Xew York, 
Andre was brought before the tribunal. It was assembled 
in an old Dutch ehiireh at Tappan. now pulled down, and 
consisted of fourteen officers, of whom Greene was presi- 
dent. The authority of the meeting was lirst read: 

Head-Quarters, Tappan, Sept. 29th, 1780.— Gentle- 
MES : Major Andre. Adjutant General to the British 
army will be brought before you for examination. He 
came within our lines in the night on an interview with 
Major General Arnold, and in an assumed character; 
and was taken within our lines, in a disguised habit, with 
a pass under a feigned name, and with the enclosed pai>ei"s 
concealed upon him. After a careful examination, you 
will be pleased, as speedily as possible, to report a pre- 
cise state of his ease, together with yom- opinion of the 
light, in which he ought to be considered, and the punish- 
ment that ought to be inllicted. The Judge Advocate will 
attend to assist in the examination, who has sundry other 
papers, relative to this matter, which he will lay before 
the Board. I have the honor to be Gentlemen, Tour most 
obedient and humble servant, 

G. "WASHnfGTOX. 

The Board of General Officers convened at Tappan. 

It is to be i-egretted that the task of composing this let- 
ter should have fallen on Hamilton, between whom and 
the prisoner an intercourse almost confidential was grow- 
ing up: and who, says La Fayette, '"was daily searching 
some way to save him." And whether its natui-e was that 
of an indictment or of a simple statement of facts, every 
i"eader will remark that its opening charge that Andre 
entered our lines in the night in an assumed character was 
putting a very strong construction on his own voluntary 
admissions, which were all the e\"idence on the point. He 
landed without our lines as Anderson : here his rank and 



ANDRE BROUGHT BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL. 391 

real name became known to Arnold; and in his uniform, 
over which was a surtout or watchcoat, he was unwitting 
brought by Arnold within the lines. No one else but the 
sentry who challenged bis approach seems to have seen 
him from the time of his leaving the boat to his arrival 
at Smith's house: and Arnold here took all the respon- 
sibility of reply. Therefore technically at least Andre 
might have urged that in so full uniform as officers gen- 
erally wear by night, and with his name and quality fully 
known to the American commander, and the only Ameri- 
can officer with whom he had thus far to do, he entered 
our lines. Neither does it seem that he was taken within 
our lines, as is alleged in the letter. Tarrytown was 
nearer to the British post at Kingsbridge than to any of 
ours. The remaining statements of the letter are exactly 
and literally true.* 

* The chief authorities for the Trial are the Proceedings of the 
Board in the original manuscript, and also as published by Con- 
gress; and a letter from Hamilton to Sears. The first was sent by 
"Washington to Congress, Oct. 7, 1780, with a view to publication: 
and in pamphlet form was immediately and widely diffused. In 
this country the observation, appended by Congress, that all the 
circumstances of the ease show that the proceedings "were not 
guided by passion or resentment" met with general approval. In 
England, the Gentleman's Magazine, by no means a Ministerial 
journal, expressed the feelings of a very large class in a notice of 
the publication. "The above account, having been published by 
Congress, it may without any very violent strain of probability be 
conjectured that they thought Gen. Washington's severity to Andre 
stood in need of some apology. How far the Congress account 
justifies Gen. Washington's conduct towards the brave Andre the 
public will judge for themselves." It was however at Washing- 
ton's own desire that the account was printed. 

Hamilton wrote not only to Sears, btit to Miss Schuyler and to 
Laurens, and the details he gives of Andre's deportment during the 
trial and in his confinement are very interesting. One at least of 
these letters seems intended for a demi-publicity. La Fayette de- 
scribes it as "a masterpiece of literary talents and amiable sensi- 
bility." I have verified the Account as given by Congress by com- 
parison with the original MSS. preserved at Washington, and have 
corrected some of its errors. 



392 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

The prisoner was now called to listen to the names of 
the officers who composed the board. These were Major- 
Generals Greene, Stirling, St. Clair, La Fayette. Howe, 
and Stenben ; Brigadiers Pai'sons. Clinton, Knox, Glover. 
Paterson. Hand. Hnntington. and Stark. Greene was 
president, and John Lanrance the Jndge-advocate-geueral. 
This officer's shai-e in the proceedings was limited to the 
preparation of the case on behalf of government, and 
eliciting the facts l^fore the court. He was a native of 
Cornwall in England, and by admission of all a man of 
humanity and sensibility. His age was about Andre's 
own, and his whole conduct evinceil his sympathy with the 
prisoner, whom he warned of the peril in which he stood, 
and exhorted to pivserve his pi-esence of mind : to be cool 
and deliberate in his answers ; and to except fi-eely to any 
interrogatory that he thought ambiguous. He promised 
in advance that any such should have its form fairly and 
justly altered. Gi-eene also ad\ised him that he was free 
to answer or stand mute to the questions to l>e proposed, 
and cautioned him to weigh well what he said. He was 
asked if he confessed or denied the statements of Wash- 
ington's letter to the board. In reply, he acknowledged 
as his own the letter to "Washington of Septeml^er -4Xh 
which the Judge-advocate had put in evidence, and fur- 
thermoi"e submitted this additional paper that he had 
drawn up: 

axpke's statemext. 

On the 20th of SeptemWr. I left Xew York to get on 
board the rulture. in order (as I thought) to meet Gen- 
eral Arnold there in the night. Xo boat, however, came 
oflF, and I waited on board imtil the night of the 21st. 
During the day. a flag of truce was sent from the Vulture 
to complain of the violation of a military rule in the in 
stance of a boat havins: been deooved on shore bv a flag. 



andke's statement. 393 

and fired uijon. The letter was addressed to General Ar- 
nold, signed by Captain Sutherland, but written in my 
hand and countersigned "J. Anderson, Secretary." Its 
intent was to indicate my presence on board the Vulture. 

In the night of the 21st a boat with Mr. and two 

hands came on board, in order to fetch Mr. Anderson on 
shore, and if too late to bring me back, to lodge me until 
the next night in a i^lace of safety. I went into the boat, 
landed, and spoke with Arnold. I got on horseback with 

him to proceed to house, and in the way passed a 

guard I did not expect to see, having Sir Henry Clinton's 
directions not to go within an enemy's jiost, or to quit 
my own dress. 

In the morning A. quitted me, having himself made me 
put the papers I bore between my stockings and feet. 
Whilst he did it, he expressed a wish that in case of any 
accident befalling me, that they should be destroyed, which 
I said, of course would be the case, as when I went into the 
boat I should have them tied about with a string and a 
stone. Before we parted, some mention had been made 
of my crossing the river, and going by another route; 
but, I objected much against it, and thought it was set- 
tled that in the way I came I was also to return. 

Mr. to my great mortification persisted in his de- 
termination of carrying me by the other route ; and, at the 
decline of the sun, I set out on horseback, passed King's 
Ferry, and came to Crompond, where a party of militia 
stopped us and advised we should remain. In the morn- 
ing I came with as far as within two miles and a half 

of Pine's Bridge, where he said he must part with me, as 
the Cow-boys infested the road thenceforward. I was 
now near thirty miles from Kingsbi'idge, and left to the 
chance of passing that space undiscovered. I got to the 
neighbourhood of Tarrytown, which was far beyond the 



394 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

points described as dangerous, when I was taken by tliree 
volunteers, who, not satistied with uiy pass, ritied nie, and, 
finding papers, made me a prisoner. 

I have omitted mentioning, that, wlien 1 found myself 
within an enemy's posts, I ehanged my dress. 

The Proceediugs as published liy Congress, being 
rather a manifesto than a report of llu' trial, makes no 
mention of this Statement. It gives however what is 
doubtless designed for an abstract of its contents and of 
his oral replies to interrogations. The italics are from 
the pamphlet. 

—"That he came on shore from Ihc Vulfure sloop-of- 
war in fhe uifjht of the 21st Sei>tember inst., somewhere 
under the Haverstraw mountain. That the boat he came 
on shore in carried no fag, and that he had on a surtout 
coat over his regimentals, and that he wore his surtout 
coat when he was taken. That he met General Arnold 
on the shore, and had an interview with him there. He 
also said that when he left the Vulture sloop-of-war, it 
was understood that he was to return that night; but it 
was then doubted, and if he could not return he was 
promised to be concealed on shore, in a place of safety, 
milil tlie next night, when he was to return in the same 
manner he came on shore; and when the next day came 
he was solicitous to get back, and made enquiries in the 
course of the day, how he should return, when he was in- 
formed he could not return that way, aaid must take the 
route he did afterwards. He also said that the first notice 
he had of his being within any of our outposts was, being 
challenged by the sentry, which was the first night he was 
on shore. He also said, that the evening of the 22d of 
September inst., he passed King's Ferry, between our 
posts of Stony and Verplanck's Points in the dress 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUJIT. 395 

he is at present in, and ivhich he said is not his regiment- 
als, and which dress he proeiired after he landed from tiie 
Vulture, and ^A•llen he was witJiin our posts, and that he 
was proceeding to New York, but was taken on his way, 
at Tarry-town, as he has mentioned in his letter, on Satur- 
day the 23d of September inst. about nine o'clock in the 
morning." 

The six papers from Arnold being produced, he ac- 
knowledged they were found in his boots: the pass to 
John Anderson was also owned, and the fact that he had 
assumed that name. Anderson's letter to Sheldon of 
September 7th {aide, page 202) was also read. He 
avowed himself its author; but though it went to prove 
his intention not to enter our lines, he observed that it 
could not aflfect the i)resent case, as he wrote it in New 
York under Clinton's orders. 

'^riie ImiiikI liaving interrogated Major Andre about 
his conception of his coming on shore under the sanction 
of a flag, he said. That it ivas impossible for him to sup- 
pose he came on shore under that sanction, and added, 
That if he came on shore under that sanction, he certainly 
might have returned under it. 



*&' 



Major Andre having acknowledged the preceding facts, 
and being asked whether he had anytliing to say respect- 
ing them, answered, He left them to operate with the 
Board." 

It was probably in connection willi this jtoint of a flag 
that Greene asked the question:— "AVhen you came on 
shore fi'oin the Vulture, Major Andre, and met General 
Arnold, did you consider yourself acting as a private in- 
dividual, or as a British officer I " "I wore my uniform, ' ' 
was the reply, "and undoubtedly esteemed myself to be 
what indeed I was, a British officer." It will be recollect- 



396 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

od that it was not as an officer he was acting and clad 
wlien lie was arrested.* 

His personal examination was now concluded, and the 
prisoner being remanded into custody, the board consid- 
ered Arnold's and Robinson's letters of the 25th, and 
Clinton's (with Arnold's statement enclosed) of the 'Jlith 
September to AVashingtou. Of their contents — or indeed 
of their existence— it does not appear that Andre was ap- 
prised : nor was it necessaiy that he should be. No other 
testimony was presented, nor indeed was there any more 
in the power of the board to adduce save that of Smith 
and the boatmen. The first was in custody; and as his 
jireliminary examination by AYashington was in the pres- 
ence of La Payette and Knox, who were of the board, as 
well as of Hamilton and Harrison who were not, they 
knew what he could saj^ respecting Andre's coming ashore 
from the VnUure. By their evidence afterwards, on his 
own trial, this briefly amounted to the asseveration that 
he went to the Vulture by Arnold's direction with a Hag 
which, despite the darkness of the night, he thought a suf- 
ficient protection ; that he brought away Andre in his uni- 
form, which was not laid aside till the next day; and that 
the prisoner came to laud under the assumed name of 
Anderson. The boatmen could only say that they were 
under the impression they were asked lieforelinnd to go 
with a flag. This testimony is not of much importance, 
though it shows that some persons at that day considei'ed 
a safe-conduct and a flag identical. 



*a 



To these details of what passed before and in the board, 
but a passage or two more can be added. It is recorded 
that Andre was profoundly sensible of the liberal and po- 
lite behavior that he met with from the Court, and warmly 

* I have this anecdote I'rom Air. Sparks. avIio veeeiveil it from La 
Faj-ette himself. 



PEOCEEDINGS OF THE COURT. 397 

avowed his sense of their generous treatment. * ' I flatter 
myself," he said when the examination was over, "that I 
have never been illiberal, but if there were any remains of 
prejudice in my mind, my present experience must obliter- 
ate them." On the other hand, his own deportment was 
composed and dignified ; his answers oj^en, clear, and to 
the point, and free from all argumentive insinuation. 
Their frank ingenuousness is testified to by Hamilton, who 
says his confession was so full that the board condemned 
him without calling a witness. His only reserve was in re- 
gard to others; in all that he said, he avowed his careful- 
ness to avoid everything that could involve anyone else, 
even shunning to mention names. Thus when Greene 
referred to his meeting Arnold at Smith's house— "I said 
a house, sir, but I did not say whose house ! ' ' exclaimed 
Andre. ' ' True, ' ' replied Greene ; "nor have we any right 
to demand this of you after the conditions we have al- 
lowed." 

Though there is nothing in the published Proceedings to 
show that the prisoner endeavored to prove himself not a 
spy, we cannot doubt that he took that ground before the 
board. Smith's affirmation that he did may be passed by; 
his comment on his own letter to Sheldon and the tone of 
his written statements lead to the belief that he upheld 
himself to have been involuntarily, and without anything 
beyond apparent guilt, forced into that category. 

When all the evidence before them was put in and con- 
sidered, the board proceeded to collect its voices. La 
Fayette is authority for pronouncing the decision unani- 
mous ; and though Smith alleges that neither Steuben nor 
Howe approved it, there is good reason to believe him as 
incorrect here as in other places. It is probable, let us 
hope, that La Fayette himself was equally astray when, 
on the 4th of July, 1825, at his mansion in Paris, he as- 



39S 



LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 



sui-ed the sou of an offiivr who had been ptvnliarly asso- 
ciatoil with Andro's olosiug sceues. iu roforoiuv to the 
action of the board.— "that it was a painful duty, in oon- 
sideration of the araUantry and aoooinvilishuionts of that 
officer, but the court was impelled not only by the rules 
of war but by the examj^le of the British anny itself, in 
the exemition of Captain Hale ou Long Island (sic) for a 
similar otfence. to pass a like judgment. " This considera- 
tion I cannot believe at all intlueuced the determination of 
the board; nor will I willingly admit that La Fayette him- 
self was governed by it in giving his vote. Tiieir enemies 
have indeed said, doubtless untruly, that he and Greene 
being personally hostile to Arnold were the warmest ad- 
vocates for Andre's condemnation: and it is not unlikelv 
that his companions were not all as prompt as himself in 
coming to a conclusion. "Some of the American gen- 
erals too." he wrote to his wife, "himciitcd. while they 
kept twisting the rope that was to hang him." But Ji 
moment's reflection will show how great a wrong is 
worked to the character of our leaders by the imputation 
of such a motive. Hale was a man whose dis]Hisition and 
whose fate indeed resembled Andre's: but whose case in 
its characteristics was widely dissimilar. In fulfilment 
of "Washington's desires and with the jnirest intentions 
of serving his country, he pi'emeditatedly entered the 
Bi-itish lines as a spy. and was detected, llis own kins- 
man betrayed him, and he was arrested while yet the em- 
hers smouldered of the great fire of the 21st of September, 
1776, and in the height of the excitement that this unjusti- 
fiable contlagratiou occasioned among the British. He 
was instantly hanged by order of Sir "William Howe: and 
the circumstances of his execution reflect disgraiv upon 
the English arms. But even had his case iu every par- 
ticiilar been parallel with Andre's, it will be borne in mind 
that fully four years had elapsed since its occurrence. 



ANDRE SENTENCED TO DICATH. 399 

'I'lic English were now under anotlier chief who, as was 
w(!ll known, had carefully avoided putting to death those 
over whose lives the laws of war gave him fonti'ol ; and 
who hut recently had given up an acknowledged spy to 
Washington's intercessions. And in any case it is cer- 
tain that our people had hanged persons of tliat character 
in sufficient numliers since Hale's death to satisfy every 
demand of r(;taliation.* Had the lex lalionis thei'efore at 
all been presented for a principle of actioji to oni- gen- 
erals, it would undoubtedly have at once been set aside. 
That there was anger in tlieir hearts is not improbable; 
that their verdict was consciously influenced by it or any 
other motive; than a siini)lc disposition to decide the case 
before; tliem on its individual nuu-its should not be ques- 
tioned. They may indeed have felt, when they looked on 
the prisoner, what the great Pharaoh in the Arabian tale 
expresses:— "men are not to be reckoned as we reckon 
animals; one camel is worth no more than another, but 
the man who is before me is wortli an ai-iny. " I'ut this 
very reflection could only warn them to more scrupulously 
mete no other sentence than the law awarded. This seur 
tence appears in the concluding parvigraph of tiie report, 
which was signed by every member of the board: 

"The Board having considered the letter from his p]\-- 
cellency General Washington respecting Major Andre,- 
Adjutant Oencn'al to the British army, the Confession of 
Major Andre, and the papers produced to them, Ekpoht 

* 111 liiirriedly glancing over Thachcr's Military Journal, I see 
recorded in this single volume the executions of no less than eight 
British spies between the dates of Hale's death and Andre's. The 
fate of one who was reclaimed by Tryon, is characteristically set 
forth in Putnam's reply. — "Sir: Xathan Palmer, a lieutenant in 
your king's service, was taken in my camp as a s/ry, — he was tried 
as a njiy, — he was condemned as a ><py, — and you may rest assured, 
Sir, that he shall ho hanged as a .s/;?/. I have the honor to be, &c., 
Israel I'lilmnii. P. S. Afternoon, he is hanged." 



•too LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

to His Excellency the Commander in Chief the following 
facts which appear to them concerning Major Andre: 

First, That he came on shore from the Vulture sloop 
of war, in the night of the 21st September inst. on an in- 
terview with General Arnold, in a private and secret 
manner. 

Secondly, That he changed his dress uitJiin our lines, 
and under a feigned name, and in a disguised habit, passed 
our uorks at Stoney and Verplank's Points the evening 
of the •22d of September inst. and was taken the morning 
of the 23d of September inst. at Tarry I'onn, in a disguis 
ed habit, being then on his way to New- York, and, uhen 
taJcen, he had in his possession several papers, which con- 
tained intelligence for the enemy. 

The Board having maturely considered these facts. Do 
Also Eeport to His Excellency General "Washington, that 
Major Andre, Adjutant General to the British Army, 
ought to be considered as a Spy from the enemy; and 
that, agreeable to the law and usage of nations, it is their 
opinion he ought to suffer death." 

The day was probably well advanced ere this report 
was prepared. On the next, it received Washington's 
sanction : 

Head Quarters September 30th, 1780.— The Comman- 
der in Chief approves of the opinion of the Board of Gen- 
eral Oiiieers, respecting Major Andre, and orders that the 
execution of Major Andre take place to-morrow, at five 
o'clock. P. M. 




Oh 

H 



■w 



CHAPTER XIX. 




Andre's Dcporlmcnt after the Dealli-Warrant. — Letters to Clinton 
and betvveen Washington and the British Generals. — Plans for 
siibstitutino; Arnold for Andre. — The Execution delayed. 

|S yet it would seem that an answer had been 
given neitlier to Andre's request of the 24th 
September for i)ermission to apply for neces- 
sary apparel and linen* and to forward an 
open letter to Clinton, nor to that general's communica- 
tion of the.26tli. The latter delay was probably occa- 
sioned by a wish to obtain the decision of the Court of 
Enquiry, and, perhaps, to ascertain the inclinations of 
Congress. Greene had swiftly transmitted the first intel- 
ligence of Arnold's conduct: and on the 30th, Washing- 
ton's letter of the 26th was received by that body. Mar- 
bois says that the Chief privately sought its desires in the 
present contingency, and that although there was no pub- 
lic debate, it was informally determined not to interfere 
with the judgment of the military tribunal. 

The interest and even attachment which the prisoner's 
condition and character had already inspired in the feel- 
ings of many of our officers has been previously noticed. 
Among those whose rank more nearly approaching his 
own rendered intercourse less restrained and em])arrass- 
ing, Hamilton stood first. He was then but about twenty- 
thi-ee years of age, and his grade and disposition, and his 
relations to the American leader, were not unlike those 
that Andre had filled in another sphere. In laudable 

* On Friday, the 29th, his servant, Peter Laune, came from New 
York with clothing, &c., for his use. (Dewees, in his Becollections, 
says two servants). — Crisis of the Eevohdion, p. (11. 

26 



402 LIFE or MAJOK AKDRE. 

ambition, too, and in natural shifts as well as ao(*omi)lish- 
meuts, there was much in conunon between the two ; and 
the very jests that one had offered at the other's expense 
were an additional incitement to personal kindness that 
should wijje away the inconsiderate levity of the Cow- 
Cliace. B'roin the moment that the captive was brought 
in, there was a constant exercise of Hamilton's good-of- 
fices. On a former occasion his friend, Major William 
Jackson,* had received much civility from Andre; and to 
him Hamilton repaired. "Major Jackson," he said, "I 
have learned that Andre was very kind to you when you 
were a prisoner. Will you not now visit him?" The 
suggestion was unnecessary, for no man was better en- 
dowed than Jackson with those kindly feelings which not 
less than the sterner traits characterize an accomplished 
soldier; but the story shows the zeal with which Ham- 
ilton in befriending Andre, while he sought to direct in- 
dignation against Arnold was careful to provoke com- 
passion towards his unfortunate coadjutor. Nor is it 
strange that he who esteemed Julius Ca?sar as the great- 
est of humankind, was drawn towards a man whose char- 
acter also exhibited "the commanding superiority of soul, 
the generous clemency, and the various genius which could 
reconcile and unite the love of pleasure, the thirst of 
knowledge, and the fire of ambition." Such we are told 
were Cassar's qualities: such in a minor scale were 
Andre's. Nor was Jackson's a solitary case: there were 
several in our army who had in confinement received sub- 
stantial proofs of Andre's goodness: and these were not 
now wanting in showing him civilities. 

During the brief hours of life that remained, Hamilton 
was in constant intercourse with him : and it was ap])ar- 
ently immediately on his being withdrawn from the pres- 

* William Jackson was Captain 4tli Xew York Eegiment to 
September, 1777, and afterwards Captain in tlie Xew York militia. 



Andre's deportment after the death warrant. 403 

enee of the board that he endeavored to procure through 
the influence of his friend, what he had himself asked for 
some days before. His doom was indeed not yet pro- 
nounced, but he must have perceived the tendency of the 
current that was flowing so strongly towards the grave; 
and in the very tenderness of his treatment by those in 
whose guard he slept and waked, he could not but have 
recognized the impulse to make his remaining hours as 
easy as possible, since they were to be so veiy few and 
full of trouble. But the attachment between Clinton and 
himself was firm and reciprocal. Sir Henry avovved, 
years afterward, that he had not forgotten nor could ever 
cease to lament his fate and his worth ; and Andre during 
his imprisonment spoke of his patron as a child might 
speak of a tender father.* Now, when the prospect of 
death was imminent, he thought of a possible future pang 
that might occur to his friend, and he sought to avert it 
by a renewal of the petition which on his own score 
merely, his wounded sensibilities would perhaps have not 
again permitted him to advert to. He repeated to Ham- 
ilton his desire to write to his commander : 

"In one of the visits I made to him, (and I saw him 
several times during his confinement,) he begged me to be 
the beai'er of a request to the general, for permission to 
send an open letter to Sir Henry Clinton. 'I foresee my 
fate, (said he,) and though I pi-etend not to play the hero, 
or to be indifferent about life, yet I am reconciled to what- 

*Mr. Cooper says, "It is certain he always spoke of Sir Henry 
Clinton (the English commander-in-chief) with the affection and 
confidence of a child, xmtil he received his last letter, which he read 
in much agitation, thrust into his pocket, and never afterwards 
mentioned his general's name." — Trav. Bach. i. 221. This is the 
only intimation that exists of his receiving any letter from Sir 
Henry during his confinement: and I do not believe one word of 
that part of the anecdote. It is probable, if Mr. Cooper got it 
from La Fayette (which is not declared) that the latter was forget- 
ful. 



404 LIKK 01' MAJOR ANDRE. 

ever may ha]i]ien, conscious tliat misfortune, not guilt, 
will have brousilit it upon mo. There is only one thing 
that disturbs my tranquillity. Sir Henry Clinton has 
been too good to me; he has been lavish of liis l<indness. 
I am bound to liim by too many obligations, and love him 
too well, to bear the thought that he should reproach 
himself, or that others should reproach him, on a suppo- 
sition that I had conceived myself bound by his instruc- 
tions to run the risk I did. 1 would not for the woi'ld 
leave a sting that would embitter his future days.' He 
could scarce finish the sentence, bursting into tears in 
spite of his efforts to suppress them, and with difficulty 
collected himself enough afterwards to add, 'I wish to be 
permitted to assure him I did not act under this impres- 
sion, but submitted to a necessity imposed upon me, as 
contrary to my own inclination as to his orders.' " 

Hamilton found little difficulty now in obtaining the I'e- 
quired ]iermission; and the letter was at once written. 
It must have been sent unsealed to liead-quarters, and 
copied ere it left our camp: its contents were known 
through the army before the author was hanged. This 
was certainly in ill-taste. It was just that precautions 
should be used to prevent communications with the enemy 
prejudicial to our interests; but worded as it was, the 
language of the document should never have passed the 
walls of the general 's marquee. It was enough to satisfy 
justice that the writer's body shoiild swing from a gibbet: 
there was no necessity of exposing to the gloating eye of 
all the world the secret agonies of his soul. 

ANDRE TO CLINTON. 

Tappan, 29 September, 1780. 

Sir,— Your Excellency is doubtless already apin-ized 
of the manner in which I was taken, and possibl}' of the 



ANDBE TO CLINTON. 405 

serious light in which my conduct is considered, and the 
rigorous determination tliat is impending. 

Under these circumstances, I have obtained General 
Washington's permission to send you this letter; the ob- 
ject of which is to remove from your breast any suspicion 
that I could imagine I was bound by your Excel- 
lency's orders to expose myself to what has happened. 
The events of coming within an enemy's posts, and of 
changing my dress, which led me to my present situation, 
were contrary to my own intentions, as they were to your 
orders ; and the circuitous route, which I took to return, 
was imposed (perhaps unavoidably) without alternative 
upon me. 

I am perfectly tranquil in mind, and prepared for any 
fate, to which an honest zeal for mj^ King's service may 
have devoted me. 

In addressing myself to your Excellency on this occa 
sion, the force of all my obligations to you, and of the 
attachment and gratitude I bear you, recurs to me. With 
all the warmth of my heart, I give you thanks for your 
Excellency's profuse kindness to me; and I send you the 
most earnest wishes for your welfare, which a faithful, 
affectionate, and respectful attendant can frame. 

I have a mother and three sisters, to whom the value of 
my commission would be an object, as the loss of Grenada 
has much affected their income. It is needless to be more 
explicit on this subject; I am persuaded of your Excel- 
lency's goodness. 

I receive the greatest attention from his Excellency 
General Washington, and from every person under whose 
charge I happen to be placed. I have the honour to be, 



406 LIFE OF MAJOU ANURE. 

"With the most respectful attai'liinent, Your Exoelleney's 
most obedient, and most humble servant. 

John Andre, Adjutant-General. 

His Excellency General Sir Henry Clinton, K. U. &c. 
<&€. dc. 

On tlie same day General Robertson liad addressed a 
letter to our camp, reiterating llic reclamation of Andre. 

ROBERTSON TO WASHINGTON. 

New York, 29 September, 1780.— Sir: Persuaded tiiat 
you are inclined rather to promote than prevent the civil- 
ities and acts of humanity, which the rules of war ]HMniit 
between civilized nations, T find no difficulty in reinvscut- 
iug to you, that several letters and messages sent from 
hence have been disregarded, are unanswered, and the 
flags of truce that carried them detained. As I ever have 
treated all flags of truce with civility and res]->ect, T have 
a right to hope that you will order my complaint to be 
immediately redressed. 

Major Andre, who visited an officer commanding in a 
district, at his own desire, and acted in every circum- 
stance agreeably to his direction, 1 find is detained a pris- 
oner. ]\ly friendship for him leads me to fear he may 
suffer some inconvenience for want of necessaries. I 
wish to be allowed to send him a few, and shall take it as 
a favor if you will be pleased to permit his servant to de- 
liver them. In Sir Henry Clinton's absence it becomes 
a part of my duty to make this representation and request. 
I am. Sir, &c. 

This letter must have arrived early on the ."^Otli, ani 
with it came the servant, Peter Laune,* bringing tlu' much 
* An error — Laiinc came the ilav before. 



Andre's condition. 407 

wanted necessaries of the toilet. Washington with his 
aides and some guards being on the spot wlion the flag 
landed, saw the luggage seai'ched, and then bade a soldier 
conduct the man to his master; whom he found "con- 
fined in a room, but not in fetters, under a strong guard, 
with double centinels, and two rebel officers in the room 
on duty." Tlie returning flag bore back this reply: — 

WASHINGTON TO ROBERTSON. 

Tappan, Sept. .30, 1780. — Sir: I have just receiv-ed 
your letter of the 29th instant. Any delay which may 
have attended your flags, has proceeded from accident 
and the peculiar circumstances of the occasion; not from 
intentional neglect or violation. The letter, which ad- 
mitted of an answer, has received one as early as it could 
be given with propriety, transmitted by a flag this morn- 
ing. As to messages, I am uninformed of any that have 
been sent. The necessaries for Major Andre will be de- 
livered to him agreeable to your request. I am, Sir, &c. 

Andre's condition was not yet so desperate as to shut 
out every hope of saving him. Mr. Sparks says that. 
Washington was very anxious to do so : but a victim— 
and an eminent one— was demanded. The magnitude of 
the affront called for a commensurate expiation, and there 
was but one person who could be substituted in the pris- 
oner's stead. The unanimous approval bestowed by the 
amiy and tlie nation on Andre's execution, though accom- 
panied with unrepressed regret for its cruel necessity,, 
arose from this conviction. None could tell where the 
treason was to end : and though as it turned out no others 
were involved, yet at the moment, so far from being as- 
sured upon that point, the army's confidence was shaken 
in various quarters, and Washington himself is seen pri- 
vately investigating the suspicions that pointed to the 



408 LIFE OF MAJDH ANDRE. 

uppermost grades of the Court of Iu(]uiry itself. The 
only security was to act promjitly and with such decision 
as should effectuallj^ deter others from a like offense. 
We all recollect Robinson Crusoe's dealings with the 
birds in his cornfield. He might drive them away as often 
as he would; but no sooner was his back turned than their 
plundering was resumed: "I could easily see the thieves 
sitting ujion all the trees about me, as if tliey only waited 
till I was gone away, and the event proved it to be so." 
But when he liung a few of the marauders in chains and 
left them dangling in terrorem, it so disgusted their sur- 
viving comrades that ever after thoy shunned the spot in 
holy hoi-ror. So it was now with our troops, who feared 
that the next attempt at seduction or betrayal would ter- 
minate less fortunately. But there is no question that 
Arnold's death would have been more grateful than 
Andre's; though as Laurens justly suggested, "example 
will derive new force from liis conspicuous character." 
Hamilton, soon after the hitter's execution, summed up 
the dilcnnna: "There was in truth no way of saving 
him. Arnold or he must have been the victim; the 
former was out of our power." 

There were two ways of getting possession of Arnold ; 
by seizure, or by exchange. Both were tried, but the last 
only made any progress during Andre's life. It was 
sought to induce him to apply in his own name to Clinton 
for the exchange. A gentleman, surmising that Arnold 
had been prepared from the first to sacrifice Andre to his 
own security, and that on this score Sir Henry might be 
willing to give him up, opened the matter to the con- 
demned man, who declined the expedient. Tradition has 
named Hamilton as having made the overture. "If Ar- 
nold could—" he began. "Stop," peremptorily inter- 
posed the captive: "such a proposition can never come 



Washington's reply to clixton. 409 

from me!"* But Hamilton himself, on the very day of 
the execution, has thus addressed his betrothed:— 

"It was proposed to me to suggest to him the idea of an 
exchange for Arnold; but I knew I should have forfeited 
his esteem by doing it, and therefore declined it. As a 
man of honor, he could not Ijut reject it ; and I would not 
for the world have proposed to him a thing which must 
have placed me in the unamiable light of supposing him 
capable of a meanness, or of not feeling myself the impro- 
priety of the measure. I confess to you, I had the weak- 
ness to value the esteem of a dying man, because I rever- 
enced his merit. ' ' 

The idea was nevertheless cherished at head-quarters. 
Greene, it will be seen, suggested it to Robertson; and 
Washington without committing himself ostensibly to the 
proposal, indirectly brought it before Clinton. Simcoe 
declares that among the letters between the generals, a 
paper was slipped in unsigned, but in Hamilton's writ- 
ing, saying ' ' that the only way to save Andre was to give 
up Arnold." The occasion of this must have been when 
Washington wrote to Clinton, on the .30th September, en- 
closing Andre's open letter of the 29th. 

WASHINGTON TO CLINTON. 

Head-Quarters, Sept. .30, 1780. — Sir: In answer to 
your Excellency's letter of the 26th instant, which I had 
the honor to receive, I am to inform you that Major Andre 
was taken under such circumstances as would have justi- 
fied the most rigorous proceedings against him. I de- 
termined, however, to refer his case to the examination 
and decision of a Board of General Officers, who have re- 
ported, on his free and voluntary confession and let- 
ters:— 

* Cooper, apparently ex rel. La Fayette. Trav. Bach. i. 221. 



410 LIFE OF MAJOB ASDRE. 

'•First, that he oame on shore, from the Vul::irc sioop- 
of-war. in the night of the illst of September instant, on 
an interview with General Amokl. in a private and secret 
manner. 

Secondly, That he changed his dress within our lines; 
and. imder a feigned name, and in a disguised habit, 
passed our works at Stony and Verplauek's Points, the 
evening of the 22d of September instant, and was taken the 
morning of the 2od of September instant, at Tarrytown. 
in a disguised habit. l>eing then on his way to Xew York ; 
and. when taken, he had in his possession several papers, 
which contained intelligence for the enemy." 

From these proceedings it is evident, that Major Andre 
was employed in the execution of measures very foreign 
to the objects of flags of truce, and such as they were 
never meant to authorize or couuteuance in the most dis- 
tant degree: and this gentleman confessed, with the 
greatest ciindor. in the course of his examination, "that it 
was impossible for him to suppose, that he oame on shore 
imder the sanction of a flag. " ' I have the honor to be. &c.* 

Captain Aaron Ogden of Xew Jersey was one of the 
most distinguished soldiers of his grade in our ranks. 

* The closing part of the report of the board of officers was not 
quoted in the letter to Sir Henry Clinton. It was in the following 
words: — "The Board, having maturely considered these facts, do 
also report to his Excellency General Washington, that Major 
Andre, adjutant-general to the British army, ought to be considered 
as a spy from the enemy, and that, agreeably to the law and usage 
of nations, it is their opinion he ought to suffer death." Sparks' 
Washington vii. 539. The Casf of Major Andre however gives the 
letter as in my text, but probably took it and other matter from the 
publication of Congress. Yet this last work printed the letter of 
Washington in such a manner as to lead to the inference that the 
omission of the concluding paragraph was intentional : and indeed, 
if Clinton could have at all been brought to surrender Arnold, it 
was desirable that he should be afforded a pretence of ignorance 
that he was remanding him to the gallows. 



OGDEN SENT WITH DESPATCHES TO CLINTON. 411 

He was of good birth, unblemished integrity, and ap- 
proved courage; and had been pierced by a Ijayonet in one 
of the characteristic niglit-marches of Andre's first pa- 
tron, General Grey. Though his kinsman* of the same 
name had followed Arnold to the gates of Quebec, it is 
probable that this gentleman held him in no great liking, 
since j\Iaxwell, his own former leader, perfectly hated 
him. Ogden had now a company in La Fayette's Light 
Infantry divL-^ion; a corps d'elite, picked from the whole 
army. 

On the evening of the 29th, when the Board had finished 
its deliberations, Ogden was commanded to wait upon 
Washington the next day at eight A. M. precisely. The 
chief alone met him at the door, and privateh' gave him 
his orders. He was to select twenty-five choice dragoons, 
reliable men and of good appearance, and procuring for 
himself the best horse he could find, to carry a flag and 
deliver a packet for Clinton to the commander of the near- 
est British post. Further, before departing he was to 
call for additional instructions on La Fayette, who lay 
with his brigade in advance of the main army and nearer 
to New York. The orders he received from La Fayette 
were that he "should if iwssible get within the British 
post at Powles Hook, and continue there during the night ; 
and that he should privately assure the commanding ofiB- 
cer there, without taking him aside for the purpose, that 
he, Captain Ogden, was instructed to say that if Sir Henry 
Clinton would in any way suffer Washington to get Gen- 
eral Arnold within his power, that Major Andre should 
be immediately released." Ogden therefore so contrived 
his march, that it was the evening of the 30th when he 
came to the British outpost. He was told that he might 
remain while his despatch was sent in ; but he replied that 

* Captain Matthias Ogden. 



■H2 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDKK. 

lie had peremptory direotions to give it up to no onv hnt 
the officer commanding the post. The cironmstancos of 
tlie case— for it must have been evident tliat iiis papers 
had some connection with Andre— provoked a suspension 
of the usual customs, aud he was i)ermitted to pass in and 
deliver them as he was bidden. He was received with 
great politeness and, the evening now being advanced, 
■was offered quarters for the night. No opportunity how- 
ever occurred for tlie fulfilinent of liis secret duties until 
supper was served, when, in courtesy to a stranger, he 
was seated by the commandant. In the course of conver- 
sation he was asked of Andre's probable fate, aud 
promptly answered that he would l)e luuig. Was tliere 
no means, exclaimed the P^nglishmau, of saving him? 
There was certainly a means, whispered Ogden in reply: 
let Arnold be surrendered, and he was prepared to say, 
though with no formal assurance from "Washington to 
the effect, that Andre would be yielded up. The officer 
at once carried this important communication to his Gen- 
eral. On his return he gave Ogden tlie only rei)ly that any 
soldier should have expected. The suggested course was 
totally inadmissible, and Clinton would not even con- 
sider it. At daybreak everything was prepared for Og- 
den 's departure; and it was not till this moment that he 
found out that his chosen sergeant* had deserted to the 
enemy. This evasion however was performed in obedi- 
ence to "Washington's own and secret arrangements, con- 
cealed for the time from Ogden himself,' and directed with 
a view to procure a sure and unsuspected spy in the Brit- 
ish lines, as well as an intelligent watchman over Arnold 
aud his every motion. 

^leanwhile, intelligence of the tinding of the court and 
of his fate were communicated to Andre through two of- 

* John Champe. 



OGDEN SENT WITH DESPATCHES TO CLINTON. 413 

ficers from Greene, one of whom was his aide, Major 
[Robert] Burnet. The sentence was listened to with a 
composure that his informants vainly strove to emulate. 
The prisoner had steeled himself to encounter death: "I 
avow no guilt," he said, "but I am resigned to my fate." 
Yet he shrunk from the idea of the halter. ' ' Since it was 
his lot to die," he said, "there was still a choice in the 
mode which would make a material difference to his feel- 
ings ; and he would be happy, if possible, to be indulged 
with a professional death;" and he seems to have at once 
vei'bally* petitioned, probably through Hamilton, that 
Washington would consent to his being shot. Probably 
anticipating no refusal to this request, he retained for 
some time a tranquility of spirit approaching even to 
cheerfulness. The arrival of his servant had enabled him 
to discard the slovenly raiment that had previously em- 
barrassed him, and he was now as neat and comely in his 
appearance as though he were doing duty before his sov- 
ereign at Windsor Castle instead of languishing in a con- 
demned cell. Still looking for his execution on the day 
originally assigned, he busied himself in farewell com- 
munications to his friends. To Captain Crosbief he 
wrote that ' ' the manner in which he was to die had at first 
given him some slight uneasiness, but he instantly recol- 
lected that it was the crime alone that made any mode of 
])unishment ignominious, and that he could not think 
an attempt to put an end to a civil war, and to stop the 
effusion of human blood, a crime.— He should therefore 
meet death with a spirit becoming a British officer, and 
neither disgrace his friends nor his country." These 

* It is singular that Mr. Sargent should make this statement 
here. The prisoner made his request in writing, as is shown on 
page 438. 

fLieutenant-Colonel William Crosbie, 22d Regiment. Laune 
took the letter to New York. 



414 LIFE OP MAJOR ANDRE. 

letters he confided to his servant, to be delivered when he 
returned to New York. 

In fact, every anthority testifies to the composure and 
dignity preserved by this unfortunate man while he was 
in our liands. "All the court that imjuired into his case," 
says La Fayette, "were filled with sentiments of admira- 
tion and compassion for him." "He behaved witli so 
much frankness, courage, and delicacy, that I could not 
help lamenting his unhappy fate," continues the marquis. 
"It is impossible to express too much respect or too deep 
regret for ^fajor Andre." Heath wrote that his l)e- 
havior "was liecomiug au officer and a gentleman, and 
such in his last moments as drew tears from many eyes. 
But it must be remembered that he who consents to l)e- 
corae a spy when he sets out, has by allusion a halter ]nit 
round his neck, and that by the usage of armies, if he be 
taken the other end of the halter is speedily made fast to 
the gallows." Tallmadge observes "that from the few 
days of intimate intercourse I had with him, wliich was 
from the time of his being remanded to the period of his 
execution, I became so deeply attached to Major Andre, 
that I could remember no instance where my affections 
were so fully absorbed by any man. When I saw him 
swing under the gibbet, it seemed for a time utterably in- 
supportable: all were overwhelmed with the affecting 
spectacle, and the eyes of many were sulTused with tears. 
There did not appear to be one hardened or indifferent 
spectator in all the multitude assembled on that solemn 
occasion." Thacher, Hamilton, "Washington himself, 
bear witness that his whole conduct to the last breath of 
life was that of the accomplished man and gallant offi- 
cer. The test applied to his character was a severe one : 
for neither by day nor night was he without an American 
officer at his side; nor, unless when busied with his pen, 



OKDEB OF EXECTTIOX. 415 

or buying peaches from the country people of the neigh- 
borhood,* had he any other means of employing his 
thoughts than in such society. Any lai>se from the most 
lofty propriety would have been instantly detected and 
remarked on. 

The morning orders of Sunday, October 1st, published 
to the army the finding of the Board of Ofl&cers, and con- 
cluded with this paragraph I'i' 

"The Commander-in-chief directs the execution of the 
above sentence in the usual way, this afternoon, at five 
o'clock, precisely." 

TTe may suppose that this intelligence was not long in 
coming to the prisoner, and that he now saw a likelihood 
of his request to be shot being disregarded. It was be- 
lieved in our camp that Washington himself was not dis- 
inclined to grant it, but that the advice of his generals de- 
terred him. Greene, it was said, was clear that Andre 
was a spy and should die the death of a spy : that were he 
not hanged, the notion that there were grounds for this 
extent of leniency would be twisted into a belief that his 
death was entirely uncalled for. The public good, he 
thought, re^iuired the use of the rojye. And Greene's 
biographer and Idnsman seems to believe that this general 
was positive on the point, though "it was with a tremb- 

* This is manifestly impossible. There is nothing to show he 
■was allowed ontside of the buOding, and eveTTthing against it. 

1 1 think this an error. While I have not been able to see the 
order referred to, it is certain the finding was thus approved, the 
day before (^Sept. 30th). •■'The Commander-in-Chief approves of 
the opinion of the Board of General Officers respecting Major 
Andre, and orders that the execution of ilajor Andre take place 
to-morrow at five o'clock P. iL'" It will be noticed that the cus- 
tomary words "in the nsuarway''" are omitted: and the prisoner's 
words on the way to his death show that he had no intimation 
of its mode, other than the inference he might have drawn from 
Washington's faQure to answer his request on the subject. 



416 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

ling hand and eyes dimmed witli tears tliat lie sij^ned the 
fatal deeree." Burnet deelares that Washington was 
convinced he could not consistently with the customs of 
war alter the manner of death "without subjecting him- 
self to the charge of instability or want of nerve." But 
Andre resolved on a direct appeal; and we gather from 
Hamilton's language but a brief moment before the fatal 
hour that it did not fail for lack of his mediation with 
Washington: — 

"Poor Andre suffers to-day ;— everything that is 
amiable in virtue, in fortitude, in delicate sentiment, and 
accomplished manners, pleads for him; but hard-hearted 

policy calls for a sacrifice. lie must die . I send 

you my account of Arnold's affair; and to justify my- 
self to your sentiments, I must inform you, that I urged 
a compliance with Andre's request to be shot, and I do 
not think it would have had an ill effect; but some i)eople 
are only sensible to motives of jiolicy, and, sometimes, 
from a narrow disposition, mistake it. 

Wlien Andre's tale comes to be told, and present re- 
sentment is over,— the refusing him the privilege of 
choosing the manner of his death will ho branded with too 
much obstinacy. ' ' 

On the morning of October 1st, Andre amused himself 
■with some last reminiscences of that art whose pleasant 
exercise had so constantly attended his life. A pen-and- 
ink likeness of himself, drawn on this occasion without 
the aid of a mirror, was sketched by him in the presence 
of Mr. Tomlinson,* an officer of the attendant guard, to 
whom he gave it as a memorial. It is still preserved in 
the Trumbiill gallery at Yale College. He was wont to 
make such portraits for his friends ; and from the writing 

*Jabez 11. Tomlinson, Ensign Xintli Connecticut. 



THE EXECrXIOX DELATED. 417 

materials, &e., displayed on the table, we may conjecture 
that this was produced when his last letter to Washing- 
ton was written. At this ];)eriod his air was serene, 
though his thoughts must have been agonizing: for say 
or do what he would, he could not brook the idea of a 
felon's death. But like the savage warrior at the stake, 
he felt that there was no moment, sleeping or waking, 
when he might privately give vent to the effusions of 
natural emotion ; and his composure was steadfastly pre- 
served. His servant was not so cahn ; and on this morn- 
ing, which there was no reason to believe was not Andre 's 
last on earth, Laime entered the chamber with his face 
bathed in tears. His master noticed it, and tranquilly 
dismissed him: "Leave me," said he, "tiU you can show 
yourself more manly. ' ' 

The day was passing away and the hour at hand that 
was prescribed for the execution. The gibbet was erect- 
ed, the grave dug, and the coflBm provided; and throngs 
of spectators crowded to the appointed spot. Captain 
Ebenezer Smith, of the [13th] Massachusetts Line, was 
in waiting at Andre's side as commandant of the guard 
appointed to escort him to the gallows. He describes the 
prisoner's manners on this trying occasion as highly 
pleasing, and his conversation intelligent : but the mental 
agony which convulsed his whole frame as the moment of 
doom came near was too much for the honest-hearted 
gentleman to stomach. It seemed to him, he said in terse 
and nervous phrase, as though the very flesh was crawl- 
ing upon Andre's bones as he paced the floor. Captain 
Smith faced all the perils, all the privations of our Rev- 
olutionary contest,— and he probably had his share of 
pleasure and of comfort in the ensuing years, — but he 
ever avowed that the respite which relieved him from his 
melancholy charge made this Sunday to be reckoned 

27 



418 LIFE OP MAJOR ANDRE. 

among tlie happiest days of his life. The occasion of the 
interruption was the intelligence brought by Ogden fron 
Clinton. He had arrived in camp that morning; but for 
some reason the postponement of the execution does not 
appear to have been announced until late in the afternoon. 
■■Clinton's letter was as follows: 

New York, Sept. 30, 1780.-Sik: From your Excel- 
lency's letter of this date, I am persuaded the Board of 
General Officers, to whom you referred the case of Major 
Andre, can't have been rightly informed of all the cir- 
cumstances on which a judgment ought to be formed. I 
think it of the highest moment to humanity, that your Ex- 
cellency should be perfectly apprized of the state of the 
matter, before you proceed to put that judgment into ex- 
ecution. 

For this reason, I shall send his Excellency Lieutenant- 
General Robertson, and two other gentlemen, to give you 
a true state of facts, and to declare to you my sentiments 
and resolutions. They will set out to-morrow as early as 
the wind and tide will permit, and will wait near Uobbs' 
Ferry for your permission and safe-conduct, to meet your 
Excellency, or such persons as you may appoint, to con- 
verse with them on the subject. I have the honor to 
be, &c. 

P. S. The Honorable Andrew Elliot, Es*}., Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, and the Honorable William Smith, Esq., 
Chief-Justice of this province, will attend his Excellency 
Lieutenant-General Robertson. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Expedients of the British to procure Andre's Liberation. — Their 
Failure. — Correspondence in the Case. 




A.ULUS HOOK was only separated from New 
York by the Hudson, and was almost opposite 
Clinton's head-quarters. The papers brought 
by Ogden were therefore not long in coming 
to his hand; and he at once summoned Mr. Smith the 
King's Chief -Justice of New York, Mr. John Tabor 
Kempe the Attorney-General, and other civilians, to meet 
in consultation with his general officers. Having stated 
the circumstances of the case and submitted Washington 's 
letter. Sir Henry asked Smith whether in his opinion the 
Americans could hang Andre as a spy. The chief-justice 
said that a reference to the authorities on the question 
led him to believe they could not; and in this opinion the 
officers concurred. But Kempe preserving a silence, one 
of them put the same query to him. Without going into 
the law of the matter he curtly answered, "I think they 
will hang him." The querist turned away in disgust, and 
the Attorney-General presently retired. The conclusion ar- 
rived at by the council, however, was that as the American 
board could not have been possessed of full evidence in the 
business, a deputation should proceed forthwith to our 
lines, armed with satisfactory proofs of Andre's inno- 
cence : and that Washington should be notified by return 
of his own flag of the coming envoys. 

So soon as Andre's imprisonment was known, Simcoe 
had put himself in readiness to recapture him; and 
begged of Clinton that in any attempt of that nature his 
regiment should have the honor of its charge. Thinking 



420 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

the prisoner might perhaps be sent on to Congress, his 
scouts vigilantly watched the route between our camp 
and Philadelphia, to give timely warning of any chance 
to fall on the escort. Henry Lee and himself, being par- 
ticular enemies on i)ublie grounds, were verj' good friends 
in private; and he lost no time in asking an interview 
with our partisan leader, of which the real object was to 
speak about Andre. Lee replied on the 2nd October, 
writing jjerhaps under the impression that prevailed in 
La Fayette's camp of the success of Ogden's negotiation 
for Clinton's consent to the surrender of Arnold: "I 
am happy in telling you that there is a probability of 
Major Andre's being restored to his country, and the 
customs of war being fully satisfied." But before the 
letter was sealed Lee had better intelligence, and he con- 
eludes in this wise:— "Since writing the foregoing I find 
that Sir Henry Clinton's offers have not come up to what 
was expected, and that this hour is fixed for the execution 
of the sentence. How cold the friendship of those high 
in power ! " * 

It would indeed have been the extreme of baseness in 
Clinton, under all the circumstances, to have given Arnold 
up in exchange for Andre ; and though the full details of 
what had gone before could not have been known in our 

* Simcoe comments that no offers were made by Clinton. In 
this he is right; for the proffered exchanges of American prison- 
ers for Andre were not such offers as Lee meant. Simcoe was, 
eitlier for book-learning about his profession or conduct on the 
field, one of the best soldiers of his day: and the extreme language 
he uses in his reply to Lee must therefore have interest, as show- 
ing the feeling of the enemy in regard to the execution: — "I am 
at a loss to express myself on the latter paragraphs of your letter; 
1 have long accustomed myself to be silent, or to speak the lan- 
guage of the heart. The useless murder of Major Andre, would 
almost, was it possible, annihilate the wish which, consentaneous 
to the ideas of our sovereign and the government of Great Britain. 



EFFOETS FOR ANDRE 's LIBERATION. 421 

camp, it is evident that there was sufficient cause to pre- 
vent the proposal being made to him in other than a covert 
manner. That it should be unhesitatingly refused is not 
to be wondered at. But there is some reason to suppose 
that in this juncture Arnold may himself have made an 
overture perfectly in keeping with his reckless intrepidity 
of character. In the beginning of 1782, he was assailed 
at London with a public charge of having basely left 
Andre to die that liis own life might be saved. On this 
a British officer, who appears to have enjoyed the 
friendship of military men of the highest social rank, 
came forward with a statement for the truth of which he 
appealed to the gentlemen who were in the fall of 1780 
members of Clinton's family. He dclared that he was 
with the English army when Andre was captured and 
Arnold came in; that it was currently reported and be- 
lieved in the lines that Arnold himself proposed to Sir 
Henry that he might be permitted to go out and surrender 
himself, in exchange for Andre; and that the reply 
was— "Your proposal, sir, does you great honour; but if 
Andre was my own brother, I could not agree to it." 
This anecdote is not devoid of suj^port from what we 
know of the man's nature; and it is certain that both 
to himself and the world, his certain death under circum- 
aspect from that which would have followed a discovery 

has ever operated on the officers of the British army, the wish of 
a reconciliation with their revolted fellow subjects in America. 
Sir Henry Clinton has the warmest feelings for those under his 
command, and was ready to have granted for Major Andre's ex- 
change, whatever ought to have been asked. Though every desire 
I had formed to think, in some instances, favourably of those who 
could urge or of him who could permit the murder of this most 
virtuous and accomplished gentleman, be now totally eradicated; I 
must still subscribe myself with great personal respect, sir, your 
most obedient and obliged servant, J. G. Simcoe." — Simcoe's Mil. 
Jour. 293. 



422 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

stances such as these would have worn a very different 
and arrest ere his flight was made good.* 

"Wliethor simply in decent respect to Clinton's com- 
munication of September 30th, or, as Lee intimates, in 
hope that he might consent to yield Arnold, Andre's exe- 
cution had been respited until noon of October 2nd. This 
postponement was thus entered in the orderly book of a 
Connecticut regiment on the 1st:— " Evening Orders. 
Major Andre is to be executed tomorrow, at twelve o'clock 
precisely. A battalion of eighty files from each wing to 
attend the execution. Fourteen general officers of the 
most honorable and unimpeachable character constituted 
the court martial," etc.f 

Leaving New York betimes, the Greyhound flag-of-truce 
schooner had a speedy passage to Dobbs' Ferry, within 
four miles of Tappan, bringing with her the dejiutation 
before named, and Beverly EobinsouJ who it was sup- 
posed would be admitted to give a statement of the 
manner in which Andre went ashore. This fact goes to 
discredit the stories that prevail and have already been 
referred to of Kobinson's distrust of the security under 
which his companion left the Vulture. The character 
of the gentlemen whom he now accompanied was propor- 
tionate to the importance of their mission. Smith, the 
brother of Andre's g-uide, was of high legal attainments, 
and passed from the chief-justiceship of New York under 
the crown to that of Canada. His historical writings are 
valuable. Eliot was "a tall, thin, Scots gentleman with 
a pimply face," father-in-law of Andre's friend Cathcart, 
and long known and respected both in Philadelphia and 

* See A]ipenclix, No. I. 
t Here follow their names. 

1 1 do not Ivnow Mr. Sargent's authority for naming Eobinson as 
of the party. 



CLINTON 's DELEGATION. 423 

New York, in which last city he said in 1774 that he had 
for ten years as Collector of Customs lived happily 
among the inhabitants and to the satisfaction of his 
superiors. His wife was of one of the chief Philadelphia 
families, and he had borne the circumstance in mind 
when chance gave an opportunity of befriending an 
American prisoner from her own town. But the strength 
of the embassy lay in Robertson, whose persuasive 
powers were so well known that the Tories loudly de- 
clared he would, had he been allowed an interview, indubi- 
tably have put the affair in such a way to Washington 
as to compel at least a reconsideration of Andre's case. 
He was a canny Scot from the kingdom of Fife; by 
nationality sagacious and brave, and by education skilled 
in the nature of his kind. If we may believe tradition, he 
wrought with other silver than what lay on his tongue; 
and when his eloquence failed was as ready to conquer 
with gold as with steel. Bred to arms, the peace of 1763 
found him resident at New York with his regiment : and 
when the Revolution broke out he was not only jjerfectly 
familiar with the general character of the people of New 
York and New England, but was on terms of easy inter- 
course with many of the chief characters on the continent. 
He was shut up in 1775 in Boston, as appears by his letter 
of July 20th to Captain Montagu, thanking him for a 
present from the seas : "two turtles, at a time when a bit 
of beef or mutton is a rare feast, command my grati- 
tude." Later, he was commandant under Howe at New 
York; and passing on occasion to England, returned in 
1780 much trusted by ministers, and in the double 
capacity of governor of the province and general thii-d 
in rank of the King's forces on the continent. "He is an 
arch-fiend, ' ' wrote Gates at this time to Reed, ' ' and knows 
how to make use of every knave in his government, and 
you and I know and believe there are as rank knaves and 



424 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

traitors in that government as in any in the Union. 
Wliigs, take care!" lie bad set on foot secret intelli- 
gences with men of good standing in our army and in 
New England very soon after he had been sworn into his 
civil office on the 22nd March, by Tryon's sick-bedside; 
and while large parts of the heavy importations of specie 
that England made into New York in this epoch were con- 
stantly sent out of the lines, he is charged by the anony- 
mous translator of Chastellux with a device that took 
even toll of the cash ere it reached American pockets. Xot 
an English guinea or Portuguese moidore was suffered, 
says he, to pass the British lines, till it was duly clijiped 
or sweated. Thus depreciated, it was more acceptable tu 
our people than their own paper currency, which, like 
the enchanted coins of old, might have ever so fair ap- 
pearance at first, but soon shrivelled up into a heap of 
worthless leaves. The diminished pieces were known as 
Robertso}is. Divided into halves, fourths, and eighth 
parts, the mutilated gold, lander the apt name of sharp- 
shinned money, found ready circulation. 

It was settled that the delegates should not meet Wash- 
ington, and that Bobertson alone should come ashore. 
Eliot and Smith were civilians : Robinson was not named 
in Clinton's letter. Accordingly Greene, not in an official 
capacity but as a private gentleman, was deputed to re- 
ceive the English lieutenant-general. Their conversation 
endured through the afternoon to near nightfall: and 
Robertson thus describes it to his superior: 

ROBERTSOX TO CLINTON. 

Off Dobbs' Ferry, 1.^^ October, 1780.— Sib: On coming 
to anchor here, I sent Murray on shore, who soon 
returned with notice that General Green was readv to 




NLv-iOK John^Vnijke ,- 



^:,/.. Uu,,r^o ..^. ,/,.,/. .y^,/,:./, /^,„^,„. {,.,'//. /;,. 



EOBEETSOn's report to CLINTON. 425 

meet me, but would uot admit a conference with the otlier 
gentlemen. 

I paid mj^ compliments to his character, and expressed 
the satisfaction I had in treating with him on the cause 
of my friend, the two armies, and humanity. He said, he 
could not treat with me as an officer; that Mr. Washington 
had pennitted him to meet me as a gentleman, but the 
case of an acknowledged spy admitted no official discus- 
sion. I said that a knowledge of facts was necessary to 
direct a General's judgments; that in whatever character 
I was called, I hoped he would represent what I said 
candidly to Mr. AFashiugton. 

I laid before him the facts, and Arnold's assertions of 
Mr. Andre's being under a flag of truce, and disguised 
by his order. He showed me a low-spirited letter of 
Andre's, saying that he had not landed under a flag of 
truce, and lamenting his being taken in a mean disguise. 
He expresses this in language that admits it to be crim- 
inal. I told him that Andre stated facts with truth, but 
reasoned ill ujion them; that whether a flag was flying 
or not, was of no moment. He landed and acted as 
directed by their General. He said they would believe 
Andre in preference to Arnold. This argument held 
long. I told him you had ever shown a merciful dispo- 
sition, and an attention to Mr. Washington's requests; 
that in the instance of my namesake, you had given up 
a man evidently a spy, when he signified his wish;* that 
I courted an intercourse and a return of good offices; 
that Andre had your friendship and good wishes, and that 

*irere Robertson could take strong ground; for Washmgton 
himself had so late as the 26th July, 1780, in writing to Clinton, 
expressly comiDlimonted the enemy's general upon the kindness 
with which he had treated his American prisoners. Tliis fact by 
the way ought in itself to discredit the idea that our leaders felt a 
necessity of retaliating Hale's execution. 



426 LIPE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

Mr. Washington's humanity to him would be productive 
of acts of the same kind on our part; that if Green had 
a friend, or Mr. "Washington was desirous of the release 
of any man, if he would let mo carry home Andre, I would 
engage to send such a man out. He said there was no 
treating about spies. I said no military casuist in Europe 
would call Andre a spy, and would suffer death myself, 
if i\Ionsieur Rochambault, or General Knyphausen, would 
call him by that name. I added, that I depended upon 
General Green's candour and humanity to put the facts 
I had stated, and the arguments I had used in their fairest 
light, to Mr. Washington ; that I would stay on board all 
night, and hoped to carry Mr. Andre, or at least Mr. 
"Washington's word for his safety, along with me the next 
morning. 

Green now with a blush, that showed the task was im- 
posed, and did not proceed from his own thought, told me 
that the army must be satisfied by seeing spies executed. 
But there was one thing that would satisfy them— they 
expected if Andre was set free, Arnold should be given up. 
This I answered with a look only, which threw Green into 
confusion. I am persuaded Andre will not be hurt. Be- 
lieve me. Sir, &c. 

Beyond what is here stated, Robertson is said to have 
intimated that under the circumstances any harsh treat- 
ment to Andre would be retaliated on persons in Xew 
York and in Charleston, where Mr. Gadsden and several 
other distinguished prisoners of war were accused of 
engaging in a correspondence with Gates while on parole 
within the British lines. Greene replied that such language 
could neither be listened to nor understood. The gossip 
of the English camp reported that these gentlemen were 
offered for Andre; and that even the release of jMr. 
Laurens was suggested without effect. The American 



COEEESPONDENCE CONCEENING ANDRE. 427 

version, as collected by Marbois, agrees witb Robertson's 
account so far as it goes; grounding the proposed ref- 
erence to Roehambeau and Knyphausen on the plea of 
their impartiality as strangers. He says also that Greene- 
took the position that the finding of the court was not to 
be opened, and that Robertson's suggestion of an appeal 
to Congress was inadmissible. He concludes with an 
extravagant anecdote of Greene's reading in contemijtu- 
ous silence the open letter of Arnold that was handed to 
him, and casting it at Robertson's feet when with no other 
word he broke up the interview.* 

Greene promised to repeat to Washington as well as he 
could bear it in mind, what Robertson had said: and the 
latter returned to his friends on the Greyhound well 
satisfied that things were now in a prosperous train. 
They anxiously waited a reply till the following morning, 
when this note was delivered : 

* It is barely possible tliat there may be some groundwork of 
truth in this anecdote, and tliat an ase'rsion to Greene and a re- 
luctance to sliorten the confinement of tlie President of Congress, 
hence grew up in Cornwallis's mind; A note in his Correspondence 
(i. 75), cliaracterizes Greene as "coarse in his manners and harsh 
in his conduct:" and I jiave before me a curious MS. letter from 
a loyalist of liigh cliaraeter written at London, Feb. G, 1782, which 
says:— "Lord Cornwallis has not yet appear'd either in the House 
or at Court; it is confidently reported that a proposal which was 
made to him at the time of his capture, and which lie rejected with 
the sullen dignity of a British peer, will now bo accepted at the 
instance of llie ministry; and that an exchange between him and 
Laiirens will take place. Tlie latter is returned from Bath, and 
tho' not yet able to use his limbs is much visited and caressed by 
the minority. It is added that, after the exchange effected, his 
Lordship will be sent to replace the discountenanced and disgraced 
Sir Harry. If so, Mr. Galloway has been writing to very little pur- 
pose, and I am afraid the friends to government out of the lines 
will not rejoice. But the people of England, caught by brilliant 
actions and too indolent for close reflection, are so prepossessed in 
favor of Lord Cornwallis, that it will not be an easy task to con- 
vince them of his incapacity or disaffection." 



428 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 



GREENE TO ROBERTSON. 



Camp, Tappan, 2 October, 1780.— Sir: Agreeablj' to 
youv request I communicated to General Washington the 
substance of your conversation in all the particulars, so 
far as my memory served me. It made no alteration in 
his opinion and determination. I need say no more, after 
what you have already been informed. I have the honor 
to be, &c. 

These tidings, after his previous conclusions, must have 
been astounding to Robertson; who forthwith addressed 
Washington directly: 

ROBERTSON TO WASniNGTON. 

Grei/hound Schooner, Flag of Truce, Dobhs' Ferry, 2 
October, 1780.— Sir: A note I had from General Greene 
leaves me in doubt if his memory had served him to relate 
to you with exactness the substance of the conversation 
that had passed between him and myself on the subject of 
Major Andre. In an affair of so much consequence to my 
friend, the two armies, and humanity, I would leave no 
possibility of a misunderstanding, and therefore take the 
liberty to put in writing the substance of what I said to 
General Greene. 

I offered to prove, by the evidence of Colonel Robinson 
and the officers of the Vulture, that Major Andre went on 
shore at General Arnold's desire, in a boat sent for him 
with a flag of truce ; that he not only came ashore with the 
knowledge and under the protection of the general who 
commanded in the district, but that he took no step while 
on shore, but by the direction of General Arnold, as will 
-appear by the enclosed letter from him to your Excellency. 
Under these circumstances, I could not, and hoped you 



COEEESPONDENCE CONCERNING ANDRE. 429' 

would not, consider Major Andre as a spy, for any im- 
proper phrase in his letter to you. 

The facts he relates correspond with the evidence I 
offer, but he admits a conclusion that does not follow. 
The change of cloaths and name was ordered by General 
Arnold, under whose directions he necessarily was, while 
within his command. As General Greene and I did not 
agree in opinion, I wished that disinterested gentlemen 
of knowledge of the law of war and of nations might be 
asked their opinion on the subject, and mentioned Mon- 
sieur Knyphausen and General Rochambault. 

I related that a Captain Robinson had been delivered to 
Sir Henry Clinton as a spy, and undoubtedly was such; 
but that, it being signified to him that you were desirous 
that the man should be exchanged, he had ordered him to 
be exchanged. I wished that an intercourse of such 
civilities as the rules of war admit of, might take off many 
of its horrors. I admitted that Major Andre had a great 
share of Sir Henry Clinton's esteem, and that he would 
be infinitely obliged by his liberation ; and that if he was 
permitted to return with me, I would engage you would 
have any person you would be pleased to name set at 
liberty. I added, that Sir Henry Clinton had never put 
any person to death for a breach of the rules of war, 
though he had, and now has, many in his power. Under 
the present circumstances, much good may arise from 
humanity, much ill from the want of it. If that could give 
any weight, I beg leave to add that your favorable treat- 
ment of Major Andre will be a favor I should ever be 
intent to return to any you hold dear. 

My memory does not retain with the exactness I could 
wish the words of the letter, which General Greene showed 
me, from Major Andre to your Excellency. For Sir 



430 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Henry Clinton's satisfaction, I beg you will order a Copy 
of it to be sent to nie at New York. I have the honour to 
be, &c. 

Eobertson had brought two letters from Arnold to 
TTashington; one was a resignation of his commission; 
the other was enclosed in the communication just printed, 
and was as follows: — 

AKNOLD TO WASHINGTON. 

New York, 1 October, 1780.— Sir: The polite attention 
shown by your Excellency and the gentlemen of your 
family to Mrs. Arnold, when in distress, demand my 
grateful acknowledgment and thanks, which I beg leave 
to present. 

From your Excellency's letter to Sir Henry Clinton, I 
find a board of general officers have given it as their 
opinion, that Major Andre comes under the description of 
a spy. My good opinion of the candor and justice of those 
gentlemen leads me to believe that, if they had been made 
fully acquainted with every circumstance respecting 
Major Andre, they would by no means have considered 
him in the light of a spy, or even of a prisoner. In justice 
to him, I think it my duty to declai'e that he came from 
on board the Vulture at my particular request, by a flag 
sent on purpose for him by Joshua Smith, Esq., who had 
permission to go to Dobbs' Ferry to carry letters, and 
for other pui'poses, and to return. This was done as a 
blind to the spy-boats. Mr. Smith at the same time had 
my private directions to go on board the Vulture, and 
bring on shore Colonel Robinson, or Mr. John Anderson, 
which was the name I had reijuested Major Andre to 
assume. At the same time I desired Mr. Smith to inform 
him that he should have my protection, and a safe pass- 
port to return in the same boat as soon as our business was 



COREESPONDENCE CONCERNING ANDRE. 431 

completed. As several accidents intervened to prevent 
his being sent on board, I gave him my passport to return 
by land Major Andre came on shore in his uniform 
(without disguise), which, with much reluctance, at my 
particular and pressing instance, he exchanged for an- 
other coat. I furnished him with a horse and saddle, and 
pointed out the route by which he was to return And 
as commanding officer in the department, I had an un- 
doubted right to transact all these matters; which if 

t™^' ^""^''^ ''''^^'^ ''^' '''' '^''^''^ *^ ""^^^ 'f«^- 

But if, after this just and candid representation of 
Major Andre's case, the board of general officers adhere 
to their former opinion, I shall suppose it dictated by 
passion and resentment; and if that gentleman should suf- 
fer the severity of their sentence, I shall think mvself 
bound by every tie of duty and honor to retaliate on "such 
unhappy persons of your army as may fall within my 
power, that the respect due to flags, and to the laws of na- 
tions, may be better understood and preserved. 

I have further to observe that forty of the principal 
nhabitants of South Carolina have justly forfeited their 
ives which have hitherto been spared by the clemency of 
his Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, who cannot in justice 
extend his mercy to them any longer, if Major Andre 
suffers, which, in all probability, will open a scene of 
blood at which humanity will revolt. 

Suffer me then to entreat your Excellency, for your 
own and the honor of humanity, and the lo^'e vou have 
of justice that you suffer not an unjust sentence to touch 
the life of Major Andre. But if this warning should be 
disregarded, I call Heaven and earth to witness that your 
Excellency will be justly answerable for the torrent of 



432 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

blood that may be spilt in consequence. I have the honor 
to be, &c. 

It was proper enough that ArnolJ should state the 
circumstances under which Andi'c had come and gone— 
for indeed who other could have recounted all of them— 
but beyond that he had no right to go. His threats of 
retaliation were simply impertinent to both Clinton and 
AVashington, and well fitted to provoke the indignation 
of our people. But I have no doubt that Washington, if 
he received the letter in time, gave due consideration to 
the facts it contained, albeit there was little in the way 
they were put that could alleviate his anger. He was not 
the man to punish Andre for Arnold's "consummate 
effrontery." But is is probable that Andre was hanged 
before the commimicatiou came to Washington's hand: 
for Robertson, we are told, when he had forwarded it, set 
out about noon to return to Xew York ; and this was just 
the hour of the execution. It does not appear that par- 
ticular information of the impending event was given to 
him; and Clinton continued anxiously to wait further 
intelligence from our camp and a reply to this last letter. 
None coming, he again prepared to address Washington, 
and at the same time called on Sutherland for a statement 
of what, as would seem, he intended him to declai'e had the 
commissioners been permitted to open the case. Neither 
letter was sent, however; for after Clinton's, but before 
Sutherland's was written, the news arrived of Andre's 
death. To preserve the connection, however, both are 
given here.* 

CLINTON TO WASHINGTON. 

New York, October 4rth, 1780.— Sir: I conceived I could 
not better or more fully explain my sentiments in answer 

* MS. Narrative of Correspondence respecting General Arnold: 
in Sir H. Clinton's of the lltli Oct. ITSO. State Paper Office, 
America and W. Inds. vol. 120. 



CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING ANDRE. 433 

to your Excellency's letter of the 30th September, re- 
specting Major Andre, than by sending Lieut. Gen. 
Robertson to converse, if possible, with you, Sir; or at 
least with some confidential officer from you. I cannot 
think Lieut. Gen. Robertson's conversation with General 
Green has entirely answered the purposes for which I 
wished the meeting. General Green's letter of the 2d 
instant to General Robertson, expresses that he had re- 
ported to you. Sir, as far as memory served, the discourse 
that had passed between them, and that it had not pro- 
duced any alteration in your opinion or determination 
concerning Major Andre. 

I have. Sir, most carefully reperused your letter of 
September 30th, which contains, indeed, an opinion of a 
Board of your General Olificers, but in no respect any 
opinion or determination of your Excellency. I must 
remain, therefore, altogether at a loss what may be, until 
you are so good to inform me, which I make no doubt of 
your Excellency's doing immediately. I will, Sir, in the 
mean time, very freely declare my sentiments upon this 
occasion, which positively are, that under no description. 
Major Andre can be considered as a Spy; nor by any 
usage of nations at war, or the customs of armies, can 
he be treated as such. That officer went at Major General 
Arnold's request from me to him, at that time in the 
American Service, and Commanding Officer at West- 
Pomt. A flag of truce was sent to receive Major Andre, 
with which he went on shore, and met General Arnold.' 
To this period he was acting under my immediate orders 
as a military man. What happened after, was from the 
entire direction and positive orders of Major General 
Arnold, your officer commanding at West Point: and 
Major Andre travelled in his way to New York, with 
passports from that American General Officer, who had 

28 



434 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

an undoubted right to grant them. And here it may he 
necessary to observe, that Major Andre was stopped upon 
the road, and on neutral ground, and made a prisoner two 
days prior to Major (ionoral Ai-nold's (juittiug the 
American service at West Point. From all which I have 
a right to assert, that j\Iajor Andre can merely be consid- 
ered as a Messenger, and not as a Spy. He visited no 
Posts, made no plans, held no conversation with any 
person save Major General Arnold ; and the papers found 
upon him were written in that General Officer's own liand- 
writing, who directed Major Andre to receive and deliver 
them to me. From these circumstances, I have no doubt 
but you, Sir, will see this matter in the same point of 
view with me, and will be extremely cautious of producing 
a precedent which may render the future progress of this 
unfortunate war liable to a want of that humanity, which 
I am willing to believe your Excellency possesses, and 
which I have always pursued. I trust. Sir, to your good 
sense, and to your liberality, for a speedy release of Major 
Andre, who, I am free to own, is an Officer I extremely 
value, and a Gentleman I very sincerely regard. 

I enclose to you, Sir, a list of persons, among whom is 
a Gentleman who acted as the American Lieutenant 
Governor of South Carolina. A discovered conspiracy 
and correspondence with General Gates 's army have been 
a reason for removing these persons from Charleston 
to St. Augustine. Being desirous to promote the release 
of Major Andre upon any reasonable terms, I offer to you. 
Sir, this Lieut. Governor, Mr. Gadson, for my Adjutant 
General ; or will make a military exchange for him, should 
you, Sir, prefer it. Lieut. Gen. Robertson, in his report 
to me, mentions his having requested from your Excel- 
lency a copy of Major Andre's letter to you, Sir, uj^ou 
which seems to be grounded great matter of charge 



CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING ANDRE. 435 

against him— given, as if tliat letter might be considered 
as a confession of his guilt as a spy. I have waited until 
this evening with some impatience for the copy of the 
Letter I mention, not doubting but your Excellency will 
send it to me. I have now to request you will, Sir, do so, 
and I shall pay to it every due consideration, and give 
your Excellency my answer upon it immediately. I have 
the honor to be, &c. 

SUTHERLAND TO CLINTON. 

Vulture, off Spiken Devil, October 5th, 1780.-SrR: The 
account Col. Kobinson has given your Excellency of our 
transactions, during our late excursion, is so full and just 
in all its particulars, that there is very little left for me 
to add. But as they have been attended with such fatal 
consequences to Major Andre, I hope it will not be held 
improper if I beg leave to submit my own observations 
on the subject :— at least so far as they relate to his leaving 
the Vulture, and the light I then saw him in. 

Your Excellency has already been informed, that on 
the night of the 21st Sept., a Mr. Smith came on board 
with a flag of truce. The substance of his order was, for 
himself and two servants to pass to Dobbs' Ferry and 
back again. He likewise had a written permission to 
bring up with him a Mr. John Anderson and boy, and a 
letter addressed to Col. Robinson: all of these papers 
signed B. Arnold. 

Most of these circumstances I had been previously 
taught to expect; and I had also been informed that 
Major Andre was the person understood by John Ander- 
son, and that he was to go on shore under that name,to hold 
a conference with General Arnold. Mr. Smith's powers 
appeared to me of sufficient authority; and as Major 
Andre's going under a fictitious name was at the particular 



436 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

request of the officer from whom they were derived, I saw 
no reason for supposing he, from that circumstance, for- 
feited his chxim to the protection they must otherwise 
have afforded him. Clear I am that the matter must have 
appeared in the same light to him; for had it not, 
measui'es might have been concerted for taking him off 
whenever he pleased, which he very well knew I, at any 
time, was enabled to accomplish. I am likewise persuaded 
Mr. Smith's ideas perfectly coincided with ours;— for 
when on the point of setting off, Col. Robinson observed, 
that as they had but two men in a large boat, they would 
find some difficulty in getting on shore— and proposed 
that one of ours should tow them some part of the way: 
to which he objected, as it might, in ease of falling in with 
any of their guard-boats, be deemed an infringement of 
the flag. 

On my first learning from Major Andre, that he did not 
intend going on shore in his own name, it immediately 
occurred to me, that an alteration of dress might likewise 
be necessary ; and I offered him a plain blue coat of mine 
for that purpose, which he declined accepting, as he said 
he had the Commander in Chief's direction to go in his 
uniform, and by no means to give up his character; 
adding, at the same time, that he had not the smallest 
apprehension on the occasion, and that he was ready to 
attend General's Arnold's summons when and where he 
pleased. 

The night the flag was first expected, he expressed much 
anxiety for its arrival ; and all next day was full of fear 
lest anything should have happened to prevent its coming. 
The instant it arrived on the ensiling night, he started out 
of bed, and discovered the greatest impatience to be gone ; 
nor did he in any instance betray the least doubt of his 
safety or success. 



CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING ANDRE. 437 

I own I was equally confident. Nor can I now, on the 
most mature consideration of circumstances, find the least 
reason for altering my opinion. What, therefore, could 
possibly have given rise to so tragical an event as has 
unhappily befallen Major Andre, is matter of the utmost 
surprise and concern to me. I have the honour to be, &c. 

A. Sutherland. 

His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton. 



0" itt "S 



CHAPTER XXL 



Andre applies to be Shot. — His Request denied. — He is hanged. — 
Various Accounts of the E.xecution. — Honors bestowed on his 
ifeniory. — His Heniains removed to Westminster Abbev. 




HE first sentence of death passed in our army 
was, I believe, during the Quebec expedition 
of 1775: the culprit was respited by Arnold 
at the gallows, and sent back to "Washington. 
The earliest military execution seems to have been that 
of one of the body-guards, who plotted with Tryon to 
seize our General and deliver him to Howe. The most 
interesting was not unlike this in many of its circum- 
stances. 

On the morning of the day originally fixed for his death, 
Andre made a moving appeal for a change of its mode : 

ANDRE TO WASHINGTON. 

Tappan, 1 October, 1780.— Sir: Buoy'd above the 
terror of death by the consciousness of a life devoted to 
honorable pursuits and stained with no action that can 
give me remorse, I trust that the request I make to your 
Excellency, at this serious period, and which is to soften 
my last moments will not be rejected. 

Sympathy towards a soldier will surely induce your 
Excellency and a military tribunal to adapt the mode of 
my deatli to the feelings of a man of honor. Let me hope, 
Sir, that if ought in my character ini]n'esses you with 
esteem towards me, if ought in my misfortunes marks me 
the victim of policy and not of resentment, I shall experi- 



ANDRE APPLIES TO BE SHOT. 439 

lett^°fr'm Ge" w";}:^,Sn^' '^ {°^ ^PP''^^' f-o^red with a 
for the rash injustice of ^fcensurf S T" ^'^N'".?"'"^^" 

stf t£;.itr:t"r# t. r^^te^iiiLa s^: ^tc: 

General ClintoroL?/ to <1 "'■■ /T- ^''"- ^^^hington to 
nold, who had /ed t e BHfpr "^ ^'f'" '" ''-^■^^h'''"^'^ ^'^ Ar- 
was to believe hat the ano t T" f^'^'V'"" ^'''^ ^'^^•^''" ^'^^--^ 
English officer to VnneS ■' .if V^'f 'fP°'^^'^ ""= gallant 
f-npe: copvofanotCleSofS^W ^° ^^^'^^^e his own es- 
'Kljurin- bin, (o state In h«/ ^^/shmgton to Major Andre, 

conviction of «,e ifi V rrdrortUri^''"' '^''^ unavoidable 
plan of disguise which ex >a ed'Andrf ^f^'take^ ?o"""t'"^' ''"* 
demnation as a spy when if bp l,.,! , ' *^ certain con- 

als, and under a Sag of tr'u J, to 1 'i^"" "^'"^-^ '" ^'' rei:iment- 
general, he would have been perfec h- '7 "'^^"^Pe^ting American 
souled answer thaiikino^ PnJ i a-' f'^'^*'' ^'OPJ of Andre's high- 
took in bis ts::''s^^^::^Z'i;::r''^ '°'' *^ '"^^^--^^e 

of General Arnold's inattention to b'/7'\"''^'' conviction 
gest to General Clinton invtb.ni ^''^'^^^y': ^^ could not sug- 

save bis less in^poV/rntli^i ' 4tteS'e "Th"'^'^ '"'^ '^ 
are the circumstances as f-iitbfnl /fo ^ ^"'•"^^- These, madam. 



440 LIKK OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

There are few, I would fain believe, who can read these 
noble lines, in which decent self-respect contends with 
wounded sensibility, without regretting that the same 
policy that exacted the sacrifice prescribed the most 
rigorous fulfillment of its harshest details. The request 
was pronounced inadmissible by Washington's coun- 
sellors: and since assent was out of his power, he was 
unwilling to wound tlie writer by a refusal. No reply was 
therefore made. 

Letters of farewell to his mother and his nearest friends 
were written: and the condemned man's calmness was 
still evinced in the exercise of his pen. On this same 
evening he sketched from memory, as a memento for a 
friend* in New York, the striking view of the North 
Eiver that had presented itself to him as he looked from 
the window of Smith's house, and figured the position of 
the Vulture as she rode at anchor beyond his reach. Tra- 
dition also assigns to this occasion the composition of 
some last verses, that were long cherished on the lips of 
the common people. t The morning of Tuesday, October 
2d, 1780, found him with his mortal duties all performed 
and not afraid to die. 

The iDrisoner's board was supplied from Washington's 
own table: on this day his breakfast was sent him, as 
usual, from the General's quarters. He ate with entire 
composure, and then proceeded to shave and to dress with 
particular care. He was fully arrayed in the habits of 
his rank and profession, with the exception of sash and 

frieud, which I slightly mentioned to yourself and Lady Eleanor, 
when I had the happiness of being with you last summer." 

The American officer referred to is supposed to liave been 
Colonel TTumphreys. 

* Lieut. -Col. William Crosbie, 22d Eegt. This sketch was sent 
to him. hut aJl trace of it has: been lost, ft was not made on Jlon- 
day, but Saturday (September 30th). 

t See Appendix, No. IIL 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXECUTION. 441 

spurs, sword and gorget. The toilet completed, he laid 
his hat on the table and cheerfully said to the guard- 
officers deputed to lead him forth, "I am ready at any 
moment, gentlemen, to wait on you." Though" his face 
was of deadly paleness, its features were tranquil and 
calm; his beauty shone with an unnatural distinctness 
that awed the hearts of the vulgar, and his manners and 
air were as easy as though he was going to a ball-room 
rather than the grave. 

The spot fixed for the closing scene was in an open field 
belonging to the owner of the house wherein he was 
detained, and on an eminence that commands an extended 
view. It was within a mile, and in open siglit of Wash- 
ington 's (luarters. Here the lofty gibbet was erected, and 
the shallow grave of three or four feet depth was digged. 
The office of hangman, always an odious employment, was 
perhaps on this occasion more than usually so. None of 
our soldiers undertook it. One Strickland, a Tory of 
Ramapo Valley, was in our hands at the time. His 
threatened fate may have been hard : his years were not 
many;* and by the price of freedom he was procured to 
take on himself the necessary but revolting character. 
Under an elaborate disguise, he probably hoped to go 
through the scene, if not unnoticed, at least unknown. 

Besides the officers that were always in the chamber, 

six sentinels kept watch Ijy night and by day over every 

aperture of the building; and if hope of escape ever rose 

in Andre's breast, it could not have developed into even 

the vaguest expectation. To the idea of suicide as a 

means of avoiding his doom he never descended. The 

noon of this day was the hour appointed for the execution ; 

and at half an hour before, the cortege set forth. Andre 

* I find no warrant for the author's statement on this point. — 
[Ed.] 



442 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

walked nrm-in-aini between two subalterus;* each, it is 
said, with drawn sword in the opposite hand. A 
captain's command of thirty or forty men marched im- 
niediately about these, wliile an outer guard of five 
hundred infantry environed the whole and formed a 
hollow square around the gibbet within which no one save 
the oflBcers on duty and the provost-marshal's men were 
suffered to enter. An immense multitude was however 
assembled on all sides to witness the spectacle, and every 
house§ along the way was thronged with eager gazers; 
that only of Washington excepted. Here the shutters were 
drawn, and no man was visible but the two sentries that 
paced to and fro before the door. Neither the Chief 
himself nor his staff were present with the troops; a cir- 
cumstance which was declared by our people and assented 
to by Andre as evincing a laudable decorum. But almost 
every field officer in our army with Greene at their head|i 
led the procession on horseback : and a number followed 
the prisoner on foot, while the outer guard, stretching in 
single file on either side and in front and rear prevented 
the concourse from crowding in. In addition to all those 
who came in from the country-side, it is unlikely that 

*Tliese were probably Capt. Ebcnezer Smith, 13th JIass. and 
Captain John Hughes, 3rd Canadian (the ''Congress regiment"). 
Captain John Van Dyke, of Lamb's artillery and Ensign Samuel 
Bowman, 3rd Mass., were right and left of them, so he was ac- 
companied by four officers and Colonel Israel Shreve, 'Jd Xew 
Jersey, commanded the outer guard of five hundred men. 

§ There are only five houses now, on the line of march, and 
it is not certain that any of them, except the Dutch church par- 
sonage, was extant in ITSO. It is a singular error to say Wash- 
ington's house was one of them, for it was — and is — directly east 
of the prison and half a mile distant. Tlie procession moved di- 
rectly away from it instead of past it. 

II An error. Greene and the other generals, mounted, were 
drawn up in line aloTig the road. Wayne and Irvine may have 
been there, but it is noticeable neither of them left on record anv 
impressions of the trial, sentence, or final scene. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXECUTION. 443. 

many of the army who could contrive to be present missed 
the sight. Every eye was fixed on the prisoner ; and every 
face wore such an aspect of melancholy and gloom that 
the impression produced on some of our officers was not 
only affecting but awful. 

Keeping pace with the melancholy notes of tlic dead- 
march, the procession passed along: no member of it ap- 
parently less troubled than he whoso conduct was its 
cause and whose death was its object.* In the beautiful 
Orientalism of Sir William Jones, he dying only smiled 
while all around him grieved. His heart told him that 
a life honorably spent in the pursuit of glory would not 
leave his name to be enrolled among those of the ignoble 
or guilty many: and his face bespoke the serenity of an 
approving and undismayed conscience. From time to 
time, as he cauglit the eye of an acquaintance, -and 
especially to the officers of the Court of Enquiry-he 
tendered the customary civilities of recognition, and re- 
ceived their acknowledgments with composure and grace. 
It seems that up to this moment he was persuaded that he 
was not to be hanged, but to be shot to death : and the 
inner guard in attendance he took to be the firing party 
detailed for the occasion. Not until the trooj^s turned 
suddenly, at a right angle with the course they had hitherto 
followed, and the gallows rose high before him, was he 
undeceived. In the very moment of wheeling with his 
escort, his eye rested on the ill-omened tree; and he re- 
coiled and paused. "Why this emotion, sir? " asked 
8mith,t who held one of his arms. "I am reconciled to 
my fate,"— said Andre, clenching his fist and convulsively 

* Benjamin Alibot, a drum-major, who beat the dead-march on 
tins occasion, died at Nashua, N. H., in lSr,l, aged 92. Peter 
Besancon, who followed La Fayette hither from France, and who 
died at Warsaw, New York, iri 1855, was probably the last sur- 
viving spectator. 

t Or Hughes. 



444 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

moAiug his arm,— "but not to the mode of it ! " "It is un- 
avoidable, sir," was the reply. He beckoned Tallniadge,t 
and inquired anxiously if he was not to be shot:— "must 
I then die in this manner? " Being told that it was so 
ordered— "How hard is my fate! " he oriod; "but it will 
soon be over." 

Ascending the hill-side, the prisoner was brought to 
the gibbet, while the outer guard secured the ceremony 
from interruption. During the brief preparations, his 
manner was nervous and restless— uneasily rolling a 
pebble to and fro beneath the ball of his foot, and the 
gland of his throat sinking and swelling as though he 
choked with emotion. His servant who had followed him 
to this point now burst forth with loud weeping and 
lamentation, and Andre for a little turned aside and 
privately conversed with him. He shook hands with Tall- 
madge, who withdrew. A baggage wagon was driven 
beneath the cross-tree, into which he leaped lightly, but 
with visible loathing; and throwing his hat aside, 
removed his stock, opened his shirt-collar, and snatching 
the rope from the clumsy hangman, himself adjusted it 
about his neck. He could not conceal his disgust at these 
features of his fate : but it was expressed in manner rather 
than in language. Then he boimd his handkerchief over 
his eyes. 

The order of execution was loudly and impressively 
read by Adjutant-General Scammell, who at its con- 
clusion informed Andre he might now speak, if he had 
anything to say. Lifting the bandage for a moment from 
his eyes, he bowed courteously to Greene and the attending 
officers, and said with firmness and dignity:— "All I 
request of you, gentlemen, is that you will bear witness to 
the world that I die like a brave man." His last words 

j Tallmadge and Tliaelier were near. 



"■M 



\ t 







_ — , TfiL e 

., '•W>jO.£jdlJ«N5THE; AMERICAN tl.. 
:«l ,VS5^BET.H1SSWH TO SEHEIWCT AltMOtV; 
;"_.-■ FOR TaE-SU«l}£tU)ER Bf VyEST^POJrST 
W#^.TAIO«.roiS0NEp..TRSeD_Alip CQKOEMi; 

V " f"' \ /Mis Mf^»' ^■' 

''■ 3W)UeH ACCOROINCLTO THi STERK ct: 

:' " MOVED- EVEN his knauEs lo fj: . 

AND BOTH- ARMIES MeURNBOTHD FAT^ '/ 

" OF ONE ^ VOl^G AND SO BRAVE. , ■.. 

»h«aHis*EMAiNs ufERE reSoved TO WeSTI«INSTER'AB«^' 
;•:■ ■AwjHBFiEa-YSARs^i'.Tp i.»is-txea>:u)K-, ■ ^-^ 

^19 STONE (^-AS PLACED ABOVE fHE SPOT fcHtRElJ^I 
^V A^CrriKNOF TNE STATED AGAU< T WniCHi^t «IUdl 
, . NOT TO PERPETUATE THE RECOlb-OF STTt,V£. ' , 
^^ ' WT '^^-•*°'^ 'HOSEBETyEKfEEUNGS ., 

:• *'*^>''^^«^:'<Ce\)WTEDTW^NAT.a!^s ! 



|, IT , THE rAR-..v Wf^xH^T^S FR^E .BlO UHl. ,S 



I 




fc- 



*f* -J, 



>if^'> 



•THE PATHS OF GLORY LEAD lU'T TO THE GRAVE." 



VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE EXECUTION. 445. 

murmured in an undertone were,— "It will be but a 
momentary pang ! ' ' 

Everything seemed now ready, when the commanding 
ofiBcer on duty suddenly cried out,— 

" His arms must be tied! " 

The hangman with a piece of cord laid hold of him to 
perform this order: but recoiling from his touch Andre 
vehemently struck away the man's hand, and drew another 
handkerchief from his pocket with which the elbows were 
loosely pinioned behind his back. The signal was given ; 
the wagon rolled swiftly away; and almost in the same 
instant he ceased to exist. The height of the gibbet, the 
length of the cord, and the sudden shock as he was jerked 
from the coffin-lid on which he stood, produced immediate 
death. 

A minute account of the scene is given by a soldier who 
was present on the occasion.* 

"I was at that time an artificer in Colonel Jeduthan 
Baldwin's regiment, a part of which was stationed within 
a short distance of the spot where Andre suffered. One 
of our men (I believe his name was Armstrong) being one 
of the oldest and best workmen at his trade in the regi- 
ment, was selected to make his coffin, which he perf ormed,_ 
and painted black, agreeably to the custom in those times. 

*Barber and Howe: Hist. Coll. N. J., p. 77. This story is 
told 111 a simple and probable form: but it contains some inaccu- 
racies that might reasonably be looked for in the tale of a private 
soldier whose knowledge of all save what he saw came from the 
hearsay of the camp. 

The preceding sketch of the execution is collated from the ac- 
counts of Thacher, Tallmadge, and Eussell, eye-witnesses of the 
scene; and as nearly as possible is given in their own words 
Thacher, 274: N. E. Mag., vi. 363. Sparks' Am., 255: Irving's 
^Yash., iv. 149, 157: MS. Mem. of Russell's account: Vind. CapL, 
p. 26. 



446 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

At this time Andre was confined in what was called a 
Pntch Church, a small stone building with only one door, 
and closely guarded by six sentinels. "\Mien the hour 
api^ointed for his execution arrived, which I believe was 
two o'clock P. M., a guard of three hundred men were 
]iaraded at the place of his confinement. A kind of pro- 
cession was formed, by placing a guard in single file on 
each side of the road. In front were a large number of 
American officers of high rank on horseback. These were 
followed by a wagon containing Andre's coffin; then a 
large number of officers on foot, with Andre in their 
midst. The procession moved slowly up a moderately 
rising hill, I should think about a fourth of a mile to the 
west. On the top was a field without any enclosure. In 
this was a very high gallows, made by setting up two 
jioles, or crotches, and laying a pole on the toyi. The 
wagon that contained the coffin was drawn directly under 
the gallows. In a short time Andre stepped into the hind 
end of the wagon; then on his coffin— took off his hat, and 
laid it down— then placed his hands upon his hips, and 
walked very nprightly back and forth, as far as the length 
of his coffin would permit; at the same time casting his 
eyes upon the pole over his head, and the whole scenery 
I)y which he was surrounded. He was dressed in what 
I should call a eomi^lete British uniform, his coat was of 
the brightest scarlet, faced or trimmed with the most beau- 
tiful green. His under-clothes, or vest and breeches, were 
bright buff, very similar to those worn by military officers 
in Connecticut at the present day. He had a long and 
beautiful head of hair; which, agreeably to the fashion, 
was wound with a black ribband, and hung down his back. 
All eyes were upon him; and it is not believed that any 
officer of the British army, placed in his situation, would 
have appeared better than this unfortunate man. Not many 
minutes after he took his stand upon the coffin, the execu- 



VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE EXECUTION. 447 

tioner stepped into the wagon, with a halter in his hand, 
which he attempted to put over the head and around the 
neck of Andre; but by a sudden movement of his hand 
this was prevented. Andre took off the handkerchief 
from his neck, unpinned his shirt-collar, and deliberately 
took the end of the halter, put it over his head, and placed 
the knot directly under his right ear, and drew it very 
snugly to his neck. He then took from his coat-pocket a 
handkerchief, and tied it over his eyes. This done the 
officer that commanded (his name I have forgotten) spoke 
in rather a loud voice, and said that his arms must be tied. 
Andre at once pulled down the handkerchief he had just 
tied over his eyes, and drew from his pocket a second one, 
and gave it to the executioner ; and then replaced his hand- 
kerchief. His arms were tied just above the elbows, and 
behind the back. The rope was then made fast to the pole 
over head. The wagon was very suddenly drawn from 
under the gallows, which together with the length of the 
rope gave him a most tremendous swing back and forth; 
but in a few minutes he hung entirely still. During the 
whole transaction, he appeared as little daunted as Mr. 
John Rogers is said to have been, when he was about to 
be burnt at the stake ; but his countenance was rather pale. 
He remained hanging, I should think, from twenty to 
thirty minutes ; and during that time the chambers of 
death were never stiller than the multitude by which he 
was surrounded. Orders were given to cut the rope, and 
take him down, without letting him fall. This was done, 
and his body carefully laid on the ground. Shortly after, 
the guard was withdrawn, and spectators were permitted 
to come forward, and view the corpse ; but the crowd was 
so great, that it was some, time before I could get an op- 
portunity. When I was able to do this, his coat, vest, 
and breeches were taken off, and his body laid in the coffin, 
covered by some under-clothes. The top of the coffin was 



448 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

not put on. I viewed the corpse more carefully than I 
had ever done that of any human being before. His head 
was very much on one side, in consequence of the manner 
in which the halter drew upon his neck. His face ap- 
peared to be greatly swollen, and very black, much re- 
sembling a high degree of mortification. It was indeed a 
shocking sight to behold. There were at this time stand- 
ing at the foot of the coffin two young men, of uncommon 
short stature. I should think not more than four feet 
high. Their dress was the most gaudy that I ever l)eheld. 
One of them had the clothes, just taken from Andre, 
hanging on his arm. I took particular pains to learn who 
they were ; and was informed that they were his servants, 
sent up from New York to take his clothes ; but what other 
business I did not learn. 

I now turned to take a view of the executioner, who 
was still standing by one of the posts of the gallows. I 
walked nigh enough to him to have laid my hand upon 
his shoulder, and looked him directly in the face. He ap- 
peared to be about twenty-five years of age, his beard of 
two or three weeks' growth, and his whole face covered 
with what appeared to me to be blacking taken from the 
outside of a greasy pot. A more frightful-looking being 
I never beheld ; his whole countenance bespoke him to be 
a fit instrument for the business he had been doing. 
Wishing to see the closing of the whole business, I re- 
mained upon the spot until scarce twenty persons were 
left, but the coffin was still beside the grave, which had 
previouslj' been dug. I now returned to my tent, with 
my mind deejily imbued with the shocking scene I had 
been called to witness." 

Every authentic account that we have shows how much 
our officers regretted the necessity of Andre's death, and 
how amply they fulfilled his parting adjuration. The 



VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE EXECUTION. 449 

tears of thousands, says Tliaclier, fell on the spot where 
he lay; and no one refrained from proclaiming his sym- 
pathy.* Many wept openly as he died; among whom it 
is recorded (apparently on the testimony of Laune) was 
La Fayette. Certainly the marquis bore witness to the 
infinite regret with which the fate of such a noble and 
magnanimous character inspired him. It was believed in 
the army that Washington's soul revolted at the task, 
and that he could scarcely command the pen when he sub- 
scribed the fatal warrant. An American officer who was 
present and who brought the news to Burgoyne's troops 
detained at Winchester, asserted that our General shed 
tears on the execution, and would fain have changed its 
mode. Without depending entirely on anecdotes which, 
though of contemporaneous origin, are not supported by 
direct evidence, it is very certain that no little sorrow was 
felt on the occasion by both friends and foes. Bronson 
for instance, whose association with the prisoner con- 
tinued from his arrest to the gallows-foot, never recurred 
willingly to the event, nor without hearty regret and emo- 
tion. The highest testimony is that of Washington. 
"Andre has met his fate," wrote he, "and with that forti- 
tude which was to be expected from an accomplished man 
and gallant officer: " and again— "The circumstances 
under which he was taken justified it, and policy required 
a sacrifice; but as he was more unfortunate than criminal, 
and as there was much in his character to interest, while 
we yielded to the necessity of rigor, we could not but 

* Wliile these pages are going through the press, one of our 
most distinguished historical students and writers has obliged 
me with a communieation respecting Andre's death: — "I have 
met Bevolutionary men wlio were with him as sentinels on the 
day of his execution. One, Enos Eeynolds, told me more than 
once the sad story, as tears ran down his cheeks. 'He was the 
handsomest man I ever laid my eyes on,' was one of his phrases, 
and he said the men all around him were weeping when he met 
his fate." 

29 



•ioO LIPE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

lament it." This was said a few days after Andre's 
death. In after-years, though he once indeed at his own 
table went over the details of Arnold's defection, Wash- 
ington is reported by his confidential attendants to have 
never, even by his own fireside, alluded to Andre's trial 
or fate. 

Others were not so guarded, and of course a thousand 
wild rumors, distorted from the truth by political bias, 
went flying over the land. The English reports must 
have originated in part with the servant Laune, for they 
are early and in part correct. Andre's dying words are 
given in jialpable error. "Remember that I die as be- 
comes a British officer, while the manner of my death 
must reflect disgrace on your commander." Another ac- 
count says that before signing to the hangman to proceed 
he thus addressed our officers: "As I sutler for the ser- 
vice of my cotmtry, I must consider this hour as the most 
glorious of my life. Remember, that I die as becomes a 
British officer, while the manner of my death must reflect 
disgrace on your counuander." "We can imderstand how 
a bewildered and grief -stricken valet may have confused 
together the incorrect recollections of what private con- 
solatory remarks his master may have made to him, and 
what he said publicly; but there was less excuse for the 
ostentatious manner in which the Pennsylvania Packet 
of Oct. 31, 17S0, made Andre exclaim to our army: "Be 
my witnesses, while I acknowledge the propriety of my 
sentence, that I die like a brave man." If he jn'otested 
not against it, it is certain he never acknowledged the jus- 
tice of his fate. The same journal however at other times 
gave more reasonable accounts; and thus gratified its 
ancient partisan feelings in a comment upon t'linton's 
bad bargain: — 



VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE EXECUTION. 451 

'Twas Arnold's post Sir Harry sought; 
Arnold ne'er entered in his thought. 
How ends the bargain? let us. see; 
The fort is safe as safe can be: 
His favorite perforce must die: 
His view's, laid bare to ev'ry eye: 
His money's gone — and lo, he' gains 
One scoundrel more for all his pains. 
Andre was gen'rous, Irue, and brave — 
And in his place he buys a knave. 
'Tis sure ordain'd that Arnold cheats 
All those of course with whom he treats. 
Now let the Devil suspect a bite. 
Or Arnold cheats liim of his right. 

The sorrow and indignation of Andre's friends gave 
occasion to other unfounded charges. At Southampton, 
where his family connections extended, it was reported 
that Clinton solicited "as a singular favor, after his 
dear friend and companion should be hung, the body 
might be sent to him— but Washington refused. Clinton 
then sent again, that since the sentence was to bury the 
body under the gallows, it might be taken up and brought 
to New York, there to be interred with the military honors 
due to so brave and accomplished a young man. This 
Washington also refused." 

This silly tale is sufficiently exposed by Sir Henry's 
own statement that he knew not of his Adjutant's being 
hanged till the arrival of Laune with his master's bag- 
gage told him all was over. When the burial at the gib- 
bet's foot was about to be made, the man had demanded 
Andre's uniform, which was accordingly removed and 
given him. The corpse was then laid in earth, and no 
monument but the usual cairn, such as rose over the spot 
where Gustavus fell at Lutzen "for liberty of consci- 
ence, ' ' marked the solitary grave. The surrounding field 
was cultivated, but the plough still shunned the place; 
for it was customary in this region for the laborers in 



452 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

their tillage to spare the soil that covered a soldier; and 
as early as 177S the fields of Long Islaud were noticed to 
be checkered over with patches of wild growth that 
showed where men lay who were slain in the battle there. 

"With generous sensibility Colonel "William S. Smith of 
our army embraced the opportunity of purchasing the 
watch that the captors had taken. It was sold for their 
benefit for thirty guineas. He bought it; and mindful of 
the tender affection with which Andre had been heard 
to speak of his mother and sisters in England, sent it in to 
Kobertson to be transmitted to these ladies. The unfor- 
tunate man's "Will testifies with what regard his whole do- 
mestic circle was held. It was sworn to before Carey 
I.udlow, Surrogate of New York, and admitted to pro- 
bate October 12th, 1780. 

"The following is my last will and testament, and I ap- 
point as executors thereto ^lary Louisa Andre, my 
mother; David Andre, my uncle; Andrew Girardot, my 
uncle; John Lewis Andre, my uncle. To each of the 
above executors I give fifty pounds. I give to Mary 
Hannah Andre, my sister, seven hundred pounds. I give 
to Louisa Catharine Andre, my sister, seven hundred 
pounds. I give to '\^'illiam Lewis Andre, my brother, 
seven hundred poimds. But the condition on which I 
give the above-mentioned sums to my aforesaid brother 
and sisters are that each of them shall pay to Mary Louisa 
Andre, my mother, the sum of ten pounds yearly during 
her life. I give to "Walter Ewer, Jr., of Dyers Court, Al- 
dermanbury, one hundred pounds. I give to John Ewer. 
Jr., of Lincoln's Inn. one hundred pounds. I desire a 
ring, value fifty pounds, to be given to my friend, Peter 
Boissier, of the 11th Dragoons. I desire that Walter 
Ewer, Jr., of Dyers Court, Aldermanbury. have the in- 
spection of my papers, letters, uumuscripts. I moan that 
he have the first inspection of them, with liberty to de- 



ANDBE's will. 4g_^ 

stroy or detain whatever l,o thinks proper; and 1 desire 
my watch to be given to him. And I lastly give and be- 
queath to my brother .Tohn Lewis Andre th^ residue of 
StatTn tri -''^tso^'v.r. Witness my hand and seal, 
Staten Isknd ,n the lu-ovince of New York, North 
America, 7th June, 1777. 

JoriN Andhk, 
Captain in the 2(ith Regiment of Foot. 

N. B. The currency alluded to in this my will is ster- 
ling money of Great Britain. I desire nothing more than 
my wearing apparel to be sold by public auction." 

It may well be supposed tliat the news of the execution 
was received at New York in sorrow and in anger 
Joshua Smith says: "No language can describe the 
mingled sensations of horror, grief, sympathy, and re- 
venge, that agitated the whole garrison; a silent gloom 
overspread the genera] countenance; the whole army and 
citizens of the first distinction, went into mourning" 
Miss Seward also mentions the signs of grief tlie troops 
displayed m their apparel; and in November a London 
account censures Clinton for not employing the heated 
animosity of his men to strike an avenging blow "The 
troops at New York on hearing of his execution raised 
^f i.r ."""^"''^ ^'''" ''''''Seniiee, and to be led to the attack 
ot Washington's camp, that the Commander-in-Cliief 
could hardly keep them within the bounds of discipline- 
and many letters mention that as Sir Henry had an army 
at least equal to Washington's, he ought to have indulged 
them: for the determined spirit with which they were 
actuated would have made them invincible against any 
superiority. On this account the military critics say he 
has given another convincing proof that he is a general 
who does not know when to act. After this, few rebel 



454 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

prisoners will be taken. The universal cry of the sol- 
diers at Xew York is, Remember Andre!" 

But if Clinton would not expose his men to a doulitful 
enteri>rise, he was not unmindful either of the fame or the 
last wishes of his friend. By public orders his memory 
was released from any imputation that might arise from 
the manner of his death. 

Head-Quarters. Xeiv York, 8 Oct. 17S0. The Comman- 
der in Chief does with infinite regret inform the Army of 
the death of the Adjutant General Major Andre. 

The unfortunate fate of this Officer calls upon the Com- 
mander in Chief to declare his opinion that he ever con- 
sidered Major Andre as a Gentleman, as well as in the line 
of his military profession, of the highest integrity and 
honor, and incapable of any base action or unworthy 
conduct. 

Major Andre's death is very severely felt by the Com- 
mander in Chief, as it assuredly will be by the Army; 
and must prove a real loss to his Country and to His 
Majesty's ser\'ice. 

How far the army felt their loss may be gathered from 
Simcoe's orders to his own regiment, by the officers and 
men of which Andre was personally known. He com- 
manded them to wear for the future black and white 
feathers as mourning for a soldier "whose superior in- 
tegrity and imcommon ability did honour to his country 
and to human nature. The Queen's Rangers will never 
sully their glory in the field by any undue severity : they 
will, as they have ever done, consider those to be under 
their protection who are in their power, and will strike 
with reluctance at their unhappy fellow-subjects, who, by 
a series of the basest artifices, have been seduced from 
their allegiance; but it is the Lt. Colonel's most ardent 



FEELIITGS EXCITED BY THE EXECUTION. 455 

hope, that on the close of some decisive victorv H •„ , 

the Inlnf T^^'i^' ^''^^^^ ^"^ ^""«^- «"d lasting. Despite 
r 3 tioa !:^' -^r ^^ ^^^-^^^^^^ «^ unimpassioned .eas n 

wasted on ^L^e^:'z.:.^t::^-iz::^^ 

^ was even supposed in some quarters that the authoHti^ 
would not hesitate to strain a point to come by T "The 
Ministry will be glad to have vengeance for Major Andre '' 
quoth Lutterloh (a character who earned aZytn t^t 
nee by betraying all who trusted him, whethe EnSi sb 
01 Fiench), as he rattled the blood-money for which he 
had just sworn away the life of the Baron de la Mote a 
suTlanSfag" ^^^^^^ ^^^^ «— was beli^L; 

Trumbull the artist was at the time studying his pro- 

^JeZTe £ fnT;,'.,-''- . ^,Sentleinan of distinction thus 
tion:J'] evSeard tha M. /^' ^^''^^^^l topic of conversa- 
K Twn l! , 1 ^"^^ ^"'^^'^ ^«« to be inaiTied to Miss 

ant's z^ts^i^f "r- ^ TL"L?;™iTw 

the N. Y. " , ,,eer w^L^T;-' »°™ ■>"=■■»"*, to ., officer in 

affected .^iZ hnni ovS t^™ ;" ^^^^^'-^^ Orders: an nn- 

merited execution " /A if. ' ''\/°' x?"'« ^-^^essory to his un- 
tWashfnSn ' ^'"''' ^'"^ ^'"'k' ^ov. 8, 1780. 



456 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

fession at London, whither he had come after a failure to 
negotiate some Connoctiriit public socnritios on the 
Continent. Considering tiiat his I'atlier was the governor 
of his native state and an active Whig through all the war; 
and that he himself had but recently resigned from the 
army, his proceeding was suspicious in the extreme. Tjike 
Andre, he had been aide to the commander-in-chief, and 
also deputy-adjutant general : and it was thought he would 
make a capital pendani to the Englishman. He was at 
once arrested on a charge of treasonable practices and 
thrown into jail. By his own account he was treated with 
humanity, and Mr. "West represented his case to the King. 
"I i)ity him from my soul," said the monarch.— "But, 
West, go to Mr. Trumbull immediately and pledge to him 
my royal promise that in the worst possible event of the 
law his life shall be safe." Really Trumbull had com- 
mitted no offence since his arrival: but as he had no 
right to be in England at all save as a prisoner, it was 
seven months ere he was released on surety to leave the 
kingdom and not return. And in October, 1782, a 
travelling American, awakened as he slmnbered in his 
carriage by the shouts of a party of armed horsemen who 
swore to hang some object of their wrath, avows that his 
first impression was that he, though in no way connected 
with Andre's death, was now to expiate it by his own. It 
is to the i^ervading interest that attaclied itself to Andre's 
story, and the romantic character of his career, that the 
origin of tlie ghost-stories about him may be attributed. 
There is yet another connected with him : 

"Miss H. B. was on a visit to Miss Andre, and being 
very intimate with the latter, shared her bed. One night 
she was awakened by the violent sobs of her companion, 
and upon entreating to know the cause, she said, 'I have 
seen my dear brother, and he has been taken prisoner.' 
It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that Maj. 



HONORS BESTOWED ON ANDRE 's MEMORY. 457 

Andre was then with the British army, during the heat 
of the American war. Miss B. soothed her friend, and 
both fell asleep, when Miss Andre once more started up, 
exclaiming, ' They are trying him as a spy, ' and she de- 
scribed the nature of the court, the proceedings of the 
judge and prisoner, with the greatest minuteness. Once 
more the poor sister's terrors were calmed by her friend's 
tender representations, but a third time she awoke 
screaming that they were hanging him as a spy on a tree 
and in his regimentals, with many other circumstances! — 
There was no more sleep for the friends ; they got up and 
entered each in her own pocket-book the particulars stated 
by the terror-stricken sister, with the dates ; both agreed 
to keep the source of their own i^resentiment and fears 
from the poor mother, fondly hoping they were built on 
the fabric of a vision. But, alas ! as soon as news, in 
those days, could cross the Atlantic, the fatal tidings came, 
and to the deep awe as well as sad grief of the young 
ladies, every circumstance was exactly imparted to them 
as had been shadowed forth in the fond sister's sleeping 
fancy, and had happened on the very day preceding the 
night of her dream ! The writer thinks this anecdote has 
not been related by Miss Seward, Dr. Darwin, or the 
Edgeworths, father and daughter, who have all given to 
the public many interesting events in the brilliant but 
brief career of Major Andre." 

It is creditable to the British Government that in con- 
sideration of the magnitude of Andre's attempted service, 
and the disastrous fate with which his efforts were 
crowned, nothing was wanting to testify either its care 
for his fame or its respect for his wishes. On the 13th 
November Captain St. George, Clinton's aide, delivered 
that general's despatches of the 12th Octolier to Lord 
George Germain. 



458 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

"The unexpected and melancholy turn, whicli my nego- 
tiation witli (ioiieral Arnold took with respect to my 
Adjutant (ioneral, has tilled my mind with the deei)est 
concern. He was an active, intelligent, and useful officer; 
and a young gentleman of the most promising hopes. 
Therefore, as he has unfortunately fallen a sacrifice to 
his great zeal for the King's service, I judged it right to 
consent to liis wish, intimated to me in his letter of the 
29th Se])t., of which T have the honor to inclose your lord- 
ship a copy, that his Company which he purchased should 
be sold for the benefit of his mother and sisters. But I 
trust, my lord, that your lordshij) will think Major Audre's 
misfortune still calls for some further support to his 
family, and 1 beg leave to make it my humble request, that 
you will have the goodness to recommend them in the 
strongest manner to the King, for some beneficial and 
distingiiishing mark of His Majesty's favor."* 

^Miat was asked was granted. The king is said to have 
instantly ordered a thousand giiineas from the privy purse 
to be sent to Mrs. Andre, and an annual pension of £300 
to be settled on her for life with reversion to her 
children or the survivor of them: and after knighthood 
was proffered, on the 24th March, 1781, in memory of 
his brother's services, the dignity of a baronetcy of Great 
Britain was conferred upon Captain "William Lewis 
Andre of the 26th Foot, and his heirs male forever.f A 

* MS. Sir H. Clinton to Lord G. Gcrniiun (Separate) New York. 
13 Oct.. i:SO. S. P. 0. On the 11th. Clinton wrote the general 
story of his dealings with Arnold. "The particulars respecting 
the ill-fated ending of this serious. I may say great ail'air, shall 
be detailed in a Narrative — wherein all papers and letters con- 
nected with it shall be inserted." This Xarrative has not been 
printed, but 1 have freely used all its facts in the text of this work. 

t A tombstone in Bathham]itou church-yard, near ]>ath. has 
this inscrijition: "Sacred to the ilemorv of Louisa Catharine 
Andre, late of the Circus, Bath: Obit. Dec. 25, 1835, aged 81. 
Also of ilary Hannah Andre, her sister, who died March 3, 1815^ 



ANDKE's KEMAINS removed to ENGLAND. 459 

Stately cenotaph in Westminster Abbey also preserved 
tlie remembrance of the life and death of Major Andre 
Hither Arnold was once observed to lead his wife and to 
peruse with her the inscription that referred to the most 
important scenes in his own career.* 

Forty years later, the pomp and ceremony with which 
the remains of the brave Montgomery were publicly 
brought from Canada to New York, called the attention of 
the British Consul at that city to the fact that the dust of 
another who too had borne the King's commission, and 
whose first cai)tivity had graced Montgomery's first 
triumph, still filled an unhonored grave in a foreign land 
He communicated with the Duke of York, Commander 
ot the Forces, and it was decided to remove Andre's corpse 
to England. The Rev. Mr. Demaratf who now owned 
the ground, gave ready assent to the consul's proposals 
His intentions had become known," says an American 
writer- 'some human brute-some Christian dog-had 
sought to purchase or to rent the field of Mr. Demarest, 
tor the purpose of extorting money for permission to re- 
move these relics. But the good man and true rejected the 
base proposal, and offered every facility in his power. " On 
Friday, August 10th, 1821, at eleven o'clock A. M work 
was commenced not without fear that it would be in vain- 
lor vague whispers went around that, years before, the 
grave was despoiled. At the depth of three feet, the spade 
struck the coffin-lid, and the perfect skeleton was soon 
exposed to view. Nothing tangible remained but the bones 
aged 93 years.--' Sir William Lewis Andre, the brother married- 
and surviving his son of the same na^e. who was a director oftt; 

^0. l8ir:tZ%^'>rr< ""''' '' ''^'^'^ L--' Hants ll?h 
*c' T i' ^^"^° ^^^ *^^'^ became extinct. 
See Life of Peter VanSchaack, by H. C. VanSchaaek, p. 147 
T riev. John Demarest. ^ 



460 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

and a few looks of the once beautiful hair,* together with 
the leather cord that had bound the queue, and which 
was sent by ^Ir. Buchanan to the sisters of the deceased. 
An attentive crowd of both sexes, some of whom had 
probably beheld the execution, was present. 

"The farmers who came to witness the interesting cere- 
mony generally evinced the most respectful tenderness for 
the memory of the unfortunate dead, and many of the 
children wept. A few idlers, educated by militia training 
and Fourth of July declamation, began to murmur that 
the memory of General Washington was insulted by any 
respect shown to the remains of Andre; but the offer of 
a treat lured them to the tavern, where they soon became 
too drunk to guard the character of Washington. It was 
a beautiful daj', and these disturbing spirits being 
removed, the impressive ceremony proceeded in solemn 
silence, "t 

If this anecdote is true, these rufiBing swaggerers were 
all who did not cheerfully encourage the proceedings. La- 
dies sent garlands to decorate the bier : even the old woman 
who kept the turnpike-gate threw it open free to all that 
went and came on this errand; and six young women of 
New York united in a poetical address that accompanied 
the myrtle-t-tree they sent with the body to England. 

The bones were carefully uplifted, and placed in a costly 

* Mr. Buchanan's own narrative says only the leather string 
and the skeleton were found. See Christian Journal and Literary 
Eejrister, Vol. V. X. Y., 1821. Evenins; Post. X. Y., Aug. 11, 1831 
and Oft. IT), 1879, Albion, X. Y., :\riireh 7. 1834, United Service 
•Tournal, London, Xov., 1833. 

t So repeats I\Irs. L. ]\I. Cliild (Letters from New York), who 
brought to the scene a solemn conviction that Andre's death was 
a "cool, deliberate murder," and whose account of what she saw 
and heard is tinctured with this feeling. 

t An error. Grant Thorburn sent the myrtle, wliieh was phint- 
€d in London, and known as "Andre's mvrtle." 



andke's kemains removed to ekglaxd. 461 

sarcophagus of mahogany, richly decorated with gold and 
hnng wit^ black and crimson velvet ; and so borne to New 
York to be placed on board the Phaeton frigate which by 
a happy sigmficancy, so far as her name was concernecl 
had been selected for their transportation to England' 
Two cedars hat grew hard by, and a peach-tree bestowed 
b> some kind woman's hand to mark the grave, (the roots 
of which had pierced the coffin and turned themselves in 
a fibrous network about the dead man's skull,) were also 
taken up The latter was replanted in the King's Gardens 
behind Carlton House. waiuens, 

In his account of the exlmmation the Consul in warm 
phrase expressed his conviction that the body had been 
robbed of Its c othing by our people. It was reasonable 
that he should hmk so: for Thacher, an eye-witness and 
mmute chronicler of the transaction, believed positively 
tha Andre was buried in his uniform; of which not a 
vestige, not a solitary button, was found when the grave 
was opened. But there is abundant contemporaneous 
proof, American and English, that Laune obtained his 
master s regimentals after he was put in the shell, but 
before he was laid in earth. In correcting his own error, 
Thacher set Buchanan right. In gratitude for what was 
done, the Duke of York caused a gold-mounted snulf-box 
of the wood of one of the cedars that grew at the grave 
to be sent to Mr. Demarest; to whom the Misses Andre 
also presented a silver goblet, and to Mr. Buchanan a 
silver standish. 

A withered tree, a heap of stones, mark the spot where 
the plough never enters and whence Andre's remains were 
removed.'^ The sarcophagus came safely across the sea, 

+i,*T^''''f*^''S!"^ ^■^''''■' -''^^^^ Andre's death. Dean Stanley visited 
the Unied States, and was the guest of Cvrus W. fS aTlrv^l 
ton. At his suggestion, Mr. F. erected a monument to mark X 



462 UFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

and forty-one years and more after they had l)oen laid 
by the Hudson its contents were reinterred in a very 
private manner hard by the monument in Westniinster 
Abbey. The Dean of AVestminster superinlendtnl the 
religious offices, while Major-(Jeneral Sir Herbert Taylor 

spot of execution. Its erection, or inscription, gave offense to some 

Socialists, one of whom, Hendri.x, by name, blew it up with dyna- 

luitc. A second met the same fate. The inscription on it reads: 

Here died, October 2, 1780, 

Major Johx Axdrk, of the British Army, 

who, entering the American lines 

on a secret mission to Benedict Arnold 

for the surrender of West Point, 

was taken prisoner, tried and condemed as a spy. 

His death, 

though according to the stern code of war, 

moved even his enemies to pity; 

and both armies mourned the fate 

of one so young and so brave. 

In 1821 his remains were removed to 

AVestminster Abbey. 

A hundred years after the execution 

this stone was placed above the spot where he lay, 

by a citizen of the United States against which he fought, 

not to perpetuate the record of strife, 

but in token of those better feelings 

which have since united two nations, 

one in race, in language and in religion, 

in the hope that the friendly understanding 

will never be broken. 

Arthur Pexrhtx St.^jjley, 

Dean of Westminster. 

He was more unfortunate than criminal. 

George Washixgtox. 

Sunt lachrynicC rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt. 

yExEiD, Book I, Line 462. 

(Literally translated: "Here are tears for our affections and 
human calamities touch the mind." In Conington's translation 
it is thus rendered: 

E'en here the tear of pity springs 

And hearts are touched by human things. 

Crisis of the Eevdhifion, pp. 84-85.) 




THE MONUMENT IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 



BUEIED IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 463 

appeared for the Duke of York, and Mr. Locker, Secre- 
tary to Greenwich Hospital, for the sisters of ihe 
deceased. 

In the south aisle of the Abbey wherein sleeps so much 
of the greatness Miid the glory of England shinds Andre's 
monument. It is of statuary marble carved by Van 
Gelder. It presents a sarcophagus on a moulded panelled 
base and plinth; the panel of which is thus inscribed: 
"Sacred to the memory of Major John Andre, who, raised 
by his merit, at an early period of life, to the rank of 
Adjutant-General of the British forces in America, and, 
employed in an important but hazardous enterprise, fell 
a sacrifice to his zeal for his King and Country, on the 
2d of October, 1780, aged twenty-nine, universally beloved 
and esteemed by the army in which he served, and lamented 
even by his foes. His gracious Sovereign King George 
III., has caused this monument to be erected." 

On the plinth these words are added : ' ' The remains of 
Major John Andre were, on the 10th of August, 1821, 
removed from Tappan by James Buchanan, Esq., His 
Majesty's Consul at New York, under insti'uctions from 
his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and witli j)er- 
mission of the Dean and Chapter, finally deposited in a 
grave contiguous to this monument, on the 28th of 
November, 1821." 

The monument stands seven and a half feet high in relief 
against the wall, beneath the sixth window of the south 
aisle. The projecting figures of the sarcophagus represent 
a group in w^hich Washington and Andre are conspicuous : 
the former in the act of receiving from a flag of truce a 
letter which is variously said to signify that in which the 
prisoner petitioned to be shot, and more reasonably, the 
demand of Clinton for his release. Britannia with a very 



464 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

lugubrious lion reposes on the top of the eeuotajib. On the 
whole, the work is not a triumph of the sculptor's art. 

Hard by the spot are the monuments of Koger Town- 
shend and of Howe, whose lives were lost in the same 
scenes whei'e Andre first lost his libertj': and those of Sir 
Cloudesley Shovel, "Wolfe, "Warren, Stuart, and other 
British warriors whose history is interwoven with that 
of America, rise under the same roof. The covert sneer 
with which Addison refers to many of the tombs in this 
Abbey can have no just relation to the funeral honors of 
such characters as these: "They put me in mind of 
several persons mentioned in battles of heroic poems, who 
have sounding names given them for no other reason but 
that they may be killed, and are celebrated for nothing 
but being knocked on the head." A man can hardly do 
more or better than die for his countrv. 



.1^ 



« A 

lj-.ii- 



iC9^ 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Considerations upon the Justice of Andre's Sentence. — Conflict- 
ing Opinions. — Character of our Generals. — Reflections on 
.\ndre"s Fate. 




f|AS the condemnation of Andre in accordance 
with the principles of the laws of war? was 
his execution justifiable? are questions that 
fourscore years have left where they were at 
the beginning. English authors have acquiesced in the 
propriety of the sentence; an American writer has pro- 
nounced it a deliberate murder; yet most of these appear 
to have known very inaccurately the facts of a case upon 
which they have, sometimes with much elegance and vigor 
expressed a decided opinion. Winterbotham an English 
clergyman, Hinton a painstaking annalist, are satisfied 
that all was done lawfully. Coke was an officer of the 
45th ; yet he publishes the belief that the rules of war were 
not infringed. Eomilly's opinion, though that of a young 
man not yet admitted to the bar, is of more weight: he 
wrote while the Jieat occasioned by the first intelligence 
was at its height, and with good information; but he 
justifies the sentence on the plea that, though Andre was 
taken on neutral ground, he had nevertheless been in our 
lines in disguise, and the safe-conduct with which he was 
armed was issued by one whom he knew to be a traitor, 
for no other end than to bring that treason to a successful 
conclusion. Mackinnon, of the Coldstrearas, is also clear 
that Andre was a spy and entitled to his fate: and this 
gentleman's rank, and the summary of facts on whicli he 
gives his judgiiient, add additional consequence to his 
language. Locker's decision is particularly interesting. 
He was the personal friend of Andre's sisters, and repre- 

30 



466 LIFE OF MAJOB AXDRE. 

sented them at the reinterment in Westminster Abbey. 
He had therefore i^eouliar opportunities of hearing evi- 
dence in favor of Andre. Immediately after the ceremony, 
he published his conviction that Andre's conduct had 
undoubtedly fixed on him the character and exposed him 
to the punishment of a spy. He also justified Wash- 
ington's inflexibility by the circumstances of the case, and 
the absolute necessity to the American cause of a terrible 
examjile. Other critics of less note subscribe to these 
general sentiments, or modify their decrees to the idea 
of Charles Lamb, when be speaks of '"the amiable spy. 
Major Andre. ' ' And the books of Miss Seward and Mrs. 
Child, published on opposite sides of the ocean, fully 
justify Tallmadge 's declaration, that had the verdict been 
left to a jury of ladies the prisoner was sure of an 
acquittal. 

In America there has been but one leading opinion ex- 
pressed on the subject. The action of its authorities has 
never been impugned save in the instance adverted to 
above. It is true that the majority of writers have not 
investigated the point: but their inferences entirely 
coincide with those of Marshall. Sparks. Biddle, and 
Irving, who were competent as any in the land to arrive 
at just conclusions. And it is to be remarked that the 
Englishmen who, by the course of events of their own 
application, have attained a degree of information on the 
question commensurate with that possessed by our own 
chief historical authorities, are not less decided, albeit 
widely differing in their determinations. Let us first look 
at the views of such as by convenience of time and place 
got their impressions, as it were, at the fountain-head. 

Of the conclusions of the leaders of our own army, little 
need be said. The finding of the court of inquiiy and its 
confirmation bv Washington suflicientlv indicate the sense 



CLINTON'S ACCOUNT OP ARNOLD 's AFFAIR. 4G7 

Of our generals. That of tbe enemy was diametrically 
opposite; although from Clinton's omission to puhliclv 
impute unsoundness of judgment or improper motives 
to his adversaries, it was inferred in this country that he 
acquiesced in the justice of the sentence. I must confess 
bir Henry's general orders of Oct. 8th, 1780, would 
prevent such a conclusion in my mind: and Lord Mahon 
by an extract from Clinton's MS. Memoirs, lias un- 
doubtedly refuted any deduction that "the opinions of 
bir Henry Clinton on this subject were essentially the 
same as those of General Wasliington." Tliou"-h it wis 
little known in our own days, it must have been a familiar 
tact to all who lived in Clinton's intimacy that in no wise 
nor at any time did he conceive Washington's course 
justifiable. When Stedman, a royal officer in our Revo- 
lution, published his history of the war and half admitted 
Andre's guilt by protestations of the absence of every 
intention that could have drawn him into the position of 
a spy, Sir Henry affixed this brief manuscript comment 
to the paragraph-- Ignorance of whole transaction-too 
tender a subject to explain upon now. See blank leaves 
at the end." Accordingly a written statement was after- 
wards inserted by Clinton at the conclusion of the book 
which though essentially the same with that given from 
his MSS. by Lord Mahon, may well be published here, 
it is entitled m the writings before me,— 

SIR HENRY Clinton's account of Arnold's affair. 
(From his MS. History of the War, Vol. II. p. 43.) 
September, 1780. About eighteen Months before the 
present period, Mr. Arnold (a major General in the 
American Service) had found means to intimate to me 
that having cause to be dissatisfied with many late Pro- 
ceedings of the American Congress, particularly their 
alliance with France, he was desirous of quitting them 



•ICJS 1.1 FK OF MAJOR ANDKE. 

and joiuing the oanso of Groat Britain. oonUi he be certain 
of personal security and indemnitication for whatever 
loss of projiei'ty he might thereby sustain. An overture 
of that sort coining from an officer of Mr. ArnoKi's ability 
and fame could not but attract my attention: and as I 
thought it possible that like another General. Monk, he 
might have repented of the part he had taken, and wish 
to make atonement for the injuries he had done his 
Country by rendering her some signal and adeiiuate 
benetit. I was of course lilvral in making him such oiYers 
and promises as I judged most likely to encourage him 
in his present temper. A correspondence was after this 
oix^ued lietweeu us under feigned names ; in the course of 
which he from time to time transmitted to me most 
material intelligence: and. with a view (as I supposed) of 
rendering us still more essential service, he obtained in 
July. 17S0. the command of all the Enemy's forts in the 
Highlands, then garrisoned by about 4000 men. The local 
importance of these posts has been already very fully 
described in the last A'olume of this History: it is 
therefore scarcely neivssary to observe here that the ob- 
taining posession of them at the present critical period 
would have been a most desirable circumstance: and that 
the advantages to be drawn from Mr. Arnold's having 
the command of theiu struck me with full force the instant 
I heard of his appointment. But the arrival of the Fi-ench 
armament, the consequent expedition to Rhode Island, and 
the weakness of my own force together with the then daily 
increase of Mr. "Washington's, obliged me to wait for some 
more favorable opportunity before I attempted to put 
that gentleman's sincerity to the proof. 

In the mean time wishing to reduce to an absolute cer- 
tainty whether the person I had so long corresponded with 
was actually Maior General Arnold commanding at West 
Point. I acceded to a proposal he made me to permit some 



CLINTON'SACCOUNTO. AKN,>,,„'s A,,,,,,,.. .|,;;, 

Officer in n.y confidon.o to l.avo .•. p.M-so.K.I ..onlV.v, will, 

hn;., wl,en ovory Uuu, uu.kt he more explieity o ^ 

between us than it was possible to do by le ter L] ,e 

requ.red that my Adjutant General, Major A nd v w , , 
chiefly condueted the correspondence wiM, hi,,, , 
signature of John Anderson, should ,„e,.t hi,,, 



chiefly conduetod the correspondence with',,,,,, „„d,M- ll„. 
signature of lohn Anderson, s],ould ,„eet hi,,, n ,■ , 



his domg so from ,r,y ..-eat confidence i,, t,,,,, oir,!', ., ' 
prudence an<l add,-oss. So.ne attempts towards a meeting 
had l,een a«-ord,ngly made before Si,- (i,.,,^, no.lu.r, 
"- nval P,utthoug]i the plan had bee., well laid, they wL 

one of wh.cli had ve.y „.a,ly cost Mr. Arnold his lilV 
These disappointments made him of course cautions : and 
as T now became anxious to forwa,-d the .vxecution of my 
l"'o.)<-t wl„Ie T could have that naval c-hief 's assistance, 
and under so good a mask as the Expedition to the 
Chesapeak which enabled me to make every n.n.isite 
preparation without being suspected, I consented to 
another proposal from General Arnold for Major And.-e 
o go to ,,,„ by water from Dobbs' Ferry in a boat whic-Ji 
he would „,.,self send for bin, under a Flag of Truce 
J^or I could have no .•easo,, to suspect that any bad conse- 
quence couhl possibly result to Major Andre f,-om such 
a mode, as i had given it in charge to him not la rluuuu, his 
dress or name on any account, or possess J,i,„self of 
wr,t,ngs by which the nature of his lOrabassy might be 
traced, and 1. understood that after his Business was 
hnished he was to be sent back in the same way. But un- 
happily none <,f Ihese precautions were observed; on the 
contivuy, (Umeral Arnold for reasons which he judged 
JmiH,rtant, or perhaps (wiiich is tlie most i.,-obable)' losin.^ 
at the moment his usual presence of mind, thought proper 
to drop the design of sending Major Andre back by water 
and prevailed upon him, or rather compelled him as would 



470 LITE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

apijear by that unfortunate OflScer's letter to me, to part 
with Ms uniform, and under a borrowed disguise to take 
a circuitous route to Xew York through the Posts of the 
Enemy under the sanction of his passport. The conse- 
quence was (as might be expected) that he was stopped 
at Tarrytown and searched, and certain papers being 
found about him concealed, he was (notwithstanding his 
passport) carried prisoner before Mr. Washington, to 
whom he candidly acknowledged his name and quality. 
Measures were of course immediately taken upon this to 
seize General Arnold; but that oflScer being fortunate 
enough to receive timely notice of Major Andre's fate 
effected his escape to a King's Sloop lying otf Taller 's 
Point, and came the nest day to Xew York. 

I was exceedingly shocked by this unexpected accident, 
which not only ruined a most important project, which had 
all the appearance of being in a happy train of success, but 
involved in danger and distress a confidential friend, for 
whom I had (very deservedly) the warmest esteem. Not 
immediately knowing however the full extent of the mis- 
fortune, I did not then imagine the Enemy could have any 
motive for pushing matters to extremity, as the bare 
detention of so valuable an officer's person might have 
given him a great power and advantage over me; and I 
was accordingly in hopes that an official demand from me 
for his immediate release, as having been under the 
sanction of a Flag of Truce when he landed within his 
posts, might shorten his captivity, or at least stop his 
proceeding with rigour against him. But the cruel and 
imfortimate catastrophe convinced me that I was much 
mistaken in my opinion of both his policy and humanity. 
For delivering himself up (it should seem) to the rancour 
excited by the near accomplishment of a plan which might 
effectually have restored the King's Authority and 



Clinton's account of Arnold's affair. 471 

tumbled him from his present exalted situation, he burnt 
with a desire of wreaking his vengeance on the principal 
actors in it ; and consequently regardless of the acknowl- 
edged worth and abilities of the amiable young man, who 
had thus fallen into his hands, and in opposition to every 
principle of policj' and call of humanity he without remorse 
put him to a most ignominious death; and this at a 
moment when one of his Generals was by his own appoint- 
ment in actual Conference with Commissioners whom I 
had sent to treat to him for Major Andre's release. 

The manner in which Major Andre was drawn to the 
Enemy's Shore (manifestly at the instance and under the 
sanction of the General Officer who had the command of 
the district) and being avowedly compelled by that officer 
to change his dress and name and return under his pass- 
port by land, were circumstances which, as they certainly 
much lessen the imputed criminality of his offence, ought 
at least to have softened the severity of the Council of 
War's Opinion respecting it, notwithstanding his im- 
prudence of having i)ossessed himself of the papers which 
they found on him. Which, though they led to a dis- 
covery of the nature of the business that drew him to a 
conference with General Arnold, were not wanted (as they 
must have known) for my information. For they were 
not ignorant that I had myself been over every part of 
the ground on which the Forts stood, and had of course 
made myself perfectly acquainted with everything neces- 
sary for facilitating an attack of them. Mr. Washington 
ought also to have remembered that I had never in any 
one instance punished the disaffected Colonists (within my 
power) with Death, but on the contrary had in several 
cases shewn the most humane attention to his interces- 
sion even in favour of avowed s])ies. His acting there- 
fore in so cruel a manner in opposition to my earnest so- 



472 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

lieitatious could not but excite in me the greatest sur- 
prise; especially as no advantage whatever could be 
possibly expected to his Cause from putting the ob- 
ject of them to death. Xor could he be insen- 
sible (had he the smallest spark of honour in his 
own breast) that the example, though ever so terrible 
and ignominious, would never deter a British Officer 
from treading in the same steps, whenever the ser- 
vice of his Country would retjuire his exposing himself 
to the like danger in such a War. But the subject affects 
me too deeply to proceed— nor can my heart cease to bleed 
■whenever I reflect on the very unworthy fate of this most 
amiable and valuable yomig man. who was adorned with 
the rarest endowments of Education and Xature. and (had 
he lived) could not but have attained to the highest 
honours of his profession ! ! ! 

The Marquis Cornwallis was not at Xew York when 
the catastrophe occurred, nor does he seem to have been 
one of Clinton's admirers or Arnold's supporters in the 
royal serWce : but he was undoubtedly well informed of 
the facts of the case, of which he expresses himself thus : — 

"The sad episode of Major Andre took place in this 
year. The details need not be given, but it may be ob- 
served that, among the members of the court by which he 
was tried, were two foreigners, ignorant of the English 
language, and several of the coarsest and most illiterate of 
the American generals. Doubts have been entertained 
whether Washington had timely information of the re- 
quests and remonstrances made by Sir Henry Clinton, 
who, had he been disposed to retaliate, could easily have 
selected among his prisoners Americans deserving the 
name of spy much more justly than ^lajor Andre. In 



CONFLICTING OPINIONS ON ANDBE's SENTENCE. 473 

any case the execution of that officer leaves an indelible 
blot on the character of Wasiiington."* 

Whether or not Beverly Robinson, as is said, distrusted 
the safety of Andre's leaving the Vulture, it is clear from 
his letter and Sutherland's that these officers considered 
tiim unlawfully detained, and, of consequence, unlawfully 
done to death. Robertson's emphatic assertion of the 
erroneous finding of the court of inquiry will also be borne 
in mmd; and his proffer to die himself if Knvphausen 
and Rochambeau would not agree with him. mat the 
first might have thought we do not know: the tendency 
of the last may be guessed from his own recorded words 
Andre deserved a better fate, he thought, but the severity 
of the laws and the necessity of an example enforced hi"s 
condemnation. His Aide, Count Mathieu Dumas, after- 
wai;ds lieutenant-general, is more explicit. He says Andre 
having come to Arnold in a peasant's disguise was justly 
condemned and executed as a spy. This language would 
lead us to suppose that the question of flags and safe- 
conducts was not raised in the French camp. 

In reciting the opinions of such of the enemy as were 
acquainted with the facts of the case, that of Simcoe must 
not be Ignored. This distinguished man was not onlv 
horoughly a practical soldier, but, what was more rare 
then than in these days, was well versed in the learning 
ancient and modern, of his profession. His lang^aglfs 
strong and bitter; yet entirely repugnant as ItTsZZZ 

at length. On one pomt he seems to have hit a more correct 
view than some of his fellows : he attributes to Washington 

of^InS' excMn-JfoffiM''' '"'t ^''^^'^^^ -^ .^overnor-general 



474 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

a full knowledge of all the circunistauces of the affair. 
The undercurrent of his thoughts seem to indicate a theory 
that one motive for rigorous proceedings was to prevent 
distrust on the part of the Fi'ench auxiliaries; who 
certainly would have been in a very awkward position had 
Arnold's designs succeeded. This is very questionable: 
as has been said, I believe Andre's case was decided on its 
merits, though policy undoubtedly had to do with the ful- 
fillment of the sentence. Simcoe declares, however, that 
he "had certain and satisfactory intelligence that the 
French party in general, and M. Fayette in particular who 
sat upon his trial, urged Mr. Washington to the un- 
necessary deed." One might well ask how he got this 
"certain intelligence:" but let us see how he speaks of 
the conduct of our chiefs: — 

"Major Andre was murdered upon private not public 
considerations. It bore not with it the stamp of justice; 
for there was not an officer in the British ai'my whose 
duty it would not have been, had any of the American 
Generals offered to quit the sei-viee of Congress, to have 
negotiated to receive them; so that this execution could 
not, by example, have prevented the repetition of the same 
offense. It may appear, that from his change of dress, 
&c., he came under the description of a spy; but when it 
shall be considered ' against his stipulation, intention, and 
knowledge,' he became absolutely a prisoner, and was 
forced to change his dress for self-preserA-ation, it may 
safely be asserted that no European general would on 
this pretext have had his blood upon his head. He fell 
a Wctim to that which was expedient, not to that which 
was just: what was supposed to be useful superceded 
what would have been generous; and though, by impru- 
dently carrying papers about him, he gave a colour to 
those who endeavoured to separate Great Britain from 



CONFLICTING OPINIONS ON ANDRE 's SENTENCE. 475 

America, to press for Ins death, yet an open and elevated 
mind would have found greater satisfaction in the obliga- 
tions It might have laid on the army of his opponents, tlfan 
m carrying into execution a useless and unnecessary ven- 
geance. 

It has been said, that not only the French party from 
their customary policy, but Mr. Washington's personal 
enemies urged liim on, contrary to his inclinations, to 
render liim unpopular if he executed Major Andre or sus- 
pected if he pardoned him. In the length of the war for 
what one generous action has Mr. Washington been cele- 
brated? A\niat honourable sentiment ever fell from his 
lips which can invalidate the belief, that surrounded with 
difficulties and ignorant in whom to confide, he meanly 
sheltered himself under the opinions of his officers and 
the Congress, in perpetrating his own previous determin- 
ation? and, m perfect conformity to his interested am- 
bition, which crowned with success beyond all human cal- 
culation m 1783, to use his own expression, 'bid a last 
farewel to the cares of office, and all the employments of 
public life,' to resume them at this moment (1~87) as 
I resident of the American Convention 1 Had Sir Henry 
Clinton, whose whole behaviour in his public disappoint- 
ment, and most afflicting of private dispensations, united 
the sensibility of the Friend, with the magnanimity of 
the Greneral, had he possessed a particle of the malignity 
which, m this transaction, was exhibited by the Ameidcan 
many of the princij^al inhabitants of Carolina then in con- 
finement, on the clearest proof for the violation of the 
aws of nations, would have been adjudged to the death 
they had merited. The papers which Congress publislied, 
lelative to Major Andre's death, will remain an eternal 
monument of the principles of that heroic officer; and 
when fortune shall no longer gloss over her fading pane- 



476 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

^'rie, will enable posterity to pass judgment on the char- 
acter of Washington."* 

Though clothed in language painful to our ears, we 
cannot deny that, so far as we know, the opinions of these 
English officers familiar with the facts were ojjposed to 
those of our own generals. Lord Rawdon hardly forms 
the exception. Under these circumstances it has been 
said that the British sentiment, by reason of the superior 
military knowledge of its exponents, was more likely to 
be accurate^ and that their ediication had not suffic- 
iently instructed the American leaders in the principles 
of international law. It would seem that at this day the 
question ought to be rather as to the correctness of their 
decision than their fitness to make it: but it may be as 
well to glance hastily at the circumstances attending the 
composition of the court. Good or bad, it was certainly 
the best we had in an army of which Chastellux testifies 
the generals were distinguished for their military ap- 
pearance and behavior, and even the subalterns manifest- 
ed a union of capacity and good-breeding. 

As President of the Board and reputedly one of the 
iirmest in promoting Andre's death, Greene is the head 
and front of those who offended by their unprofessional 
breeding and limited education. Born in 17-40, Greene 
had been a blacksmith: he was a blacksmith when he 
marched to Boston, and was raised from the ranks of a 
militia company to a colonial major-generalcy. The case 
is not singular. It was a smith that led the Turks from the 

* Mil. Jcvrn., 153, 294. As governor of Upper Canada Simcoe 
in 179.5 is described by Roehefoueault-Liancourt as just, enlight- 
ened, frank, and brave: but unswerving in his aversion to the 
United States and constantly speculating on a campaign that 
should lead him to Phihidelphia. If he did not instigate he cer- 
tain! v did not discourage the Indian wars of the Northwest, in 
T.'hicii St. Clair was so terribly cut to pieces. 



CHARACTERS OF OUR GEXERALS. 4^'JJ 

Slavery of the Altai Mountains to royal greatness ; and for 
oentunes he exercise of anvil and sledge prese v^d he 

The abinp translation of the stuttering Michael from the- 

ern Empne furnishes history with one of its most glaring 
^lustrations of the mutability of fortune and the blindnesf 
of the popuar will. The blacksmith's apron that com! 
m morated the imperial origin long led the Persians to vic- 
toi3 until the jewels with which it continued to be em- 
broidered entirely hid the leather from view. Greene 's was 
one of those cases in which promotion was born of merit, 
and the genera Is worth obscures his unprofessional ori: 

P, : .^^^° ^t -f"^"'^"'"*''^' ^^'' "^^^'^^^^-^ «f ^i« studies were 
President Stiles and Lindley Murray. His reading was 
thorough rathei- than large. His military text-books 
weie C.psar s Commentancs, Plutarch, Turenne's Me- 

ZT^n f ^'^''' ^^'^'^'"'^ ^'"''^'■- '^"t he was familiar 
with Blaekstone and with Ferguson's Civil Society, and I 
am able to state positively had carefully read over Vattel 
To his capacity m the field Tarleton bears ample testi- 
mony; and It IS odd that the beginning and the ending of 
his campaignings should involve the idea of a spv To 
procure arms to use against the English, in 1774 or 1775 
he slipped into Boston, watched the discipline of the 
troops at their morning and evening parades, and when he 
smuggled out a musket and accoutrements he brouo-ht a 
deserter along as a drillmaster to the militia cori^s with 
which he served. In Carolina, he emploved a voung 
lady on secret services of the greatest danger without 
scruple; and after the evacuation of Charleston towards 
the end of the war, when the Whig governor arrested 
Captain Ker and his crew who had come with a flag to 
Greene, he called a council of officers and with their con- 
currence enforced the flag-party's release by an armed 



478 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRK. 

demonstration on the place. This circurastanee tends to 
show that (ireene understood the nature of his present 
business, and also that no seeking after the applause of 
the civil powers was likely to bend him from the path of 
professional integrity: and indeed at the time of Andre's 
sentence he was out of favor with Congress. He was a 
calm, circumspect man: fond of general principles; his 
mind clear, comprehensive, and logical. Unwearied in 
collecting premises, he was immovable in his conclusions. 
It is probable enough that however accurate and reason- 
able were his mental operations, his manners may have 
savored of his youthful associations: but such as they 
were, he abided with them. It is recorded that even after 
both had left the army, he continued to refuse satisfaction 
to a brother officer whom he did not think the proprieties 
of martial life entitled to demand it.* 

If Greene was of humble birth and self-taught, Stirling, 
born in 1726, was directly the reverse. He was of noble 
blood and had ineffectually sued for the earldom that he 
always claimed as his rightful inheritance. His educa- 
tion was liberal: he was versed in the classics and pro- 
ficient in the severe sciences. In 1754, he aided in found- 
ing the New York Society Library : and in the ensuing year 
was a member of the military family of Shirley, the 
King's chief general here. Thacher tells an idle camp- 
fire story of his punctilious adhesiveness to the dignity of 
his rank, but adds:— "In his personal api3earance his 

* It may be added that Greene was noted for the prompt se- 
verity with which he checked the disorders of his command: and 
more than one execution proves how firm he was in preserving the 
legitimate discipline of war. A good idea of the military capacity 
of our generals may be got from their proposed emendations of 
the Articles of War, Oct., 1775. On this occasion, Greene de- 
manded a Provost-marshal, and desired that treason in the army 
against the United States should be clearly defined, and the pen- 
alty prescribed. 



CHARACTERS OF OUR GENERALS. 479 

lordship is venerable and dignified; in his deportment, 
gentlemanly and graceful ; in conversation, pleasing and 
interesting. ' ' His convivial habits were specially satirized 
by Andre in the Cow-Chace. Chastellux mentions the 
same infirmity, but says he was very brave, zealous, sen- 
sible, and of information; though without capacity, old, 
and dull. He certainly was sincere and steady in his de- 
votion to our cause. 

St. Clair, born in Scotland in 1734, had a thoroughly 
liberal education at one of the best Scottish universities. 
He was intended for medicine, but his taste being for 
arms he obtained a commission through the influence of 
his elevated connections, and came to America with Bos- 
cawen in 1755. He was a lieutenant under Wolfe and 
esteemed a very meritorious officer, capable of reaching 
great military distinction. He was appointed to the com- 
mand of Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania; and retiring 
from the array after the Peace of 1763, filled some im- 
portant civil offices in that province. In March, 1764, 
Governor John Penn wrote to Lord Dunmore:— "Mr. St. 
Clair is a gentleman who for a long time had the honour 
of serving his Majesty in the regulars with reputation, 
and in every station of life has preserved the character of 
a very honest man."* 

* St. C'lair"s fate was a hard one and unmerited. After having 
served in almost every American siege or action of consequence 
m the Seven Years' War, and abandoning an estate in Scotland 
to take up arms in our Revolution, his honour was woefully im- 
pugned. He was court-martialed by Congress for neg-lect of duty, 
cowardice, treachery, &c. ; and though of course acquitted (being 
entirely innocent) his feelings were naturallv stung. Sullivan 
too published a letter, Aug. 6, 1777, which seemed" to question 
his fidelity, until he disavowed any such meaning, Aug 30th. St. 
Clair earned and kept Washington's esteem; but in after-life he 
was stripped of his appointments by Government, defrauded of 
his rights, and lived in old age for several years "in the most 
abject poverty." Pennsylvania then granted him a pension of 
$650 yearly, on which he wore out his few remaining days. 



iSO LIFE OF MAJOR ANDKE, 

La Fayette, born in 1757, is too well known to ask 
many words here. His education, civil and military, was 
as good as his years would permit. He was brave and 
intelligent, and covetous of popular applause. In 1787, 
Jefferson wrote that he had an undue love of popularity. 
This, and his hatred to England, led him to such escapades 
as his challenge to Lord Carlisle for language used re- 
garding France in his quality of Commissioner ; but they 
did him no harm with the multitude. The sword of honor 
that Congress gave him in 1771', "I am proud," said he, 
"to carry into the heart of England." Like Simon of 
Montfort, our people rejoiced that a Frenchman and for- 
eigner, himself the subject of a despotism, should be so 
penetrated with their oppressions as to lead them to lib- 
erty in a civil war. He was liberal of his person and 
his purse in our cause, and his name was beloved by our 
nation, even when it was proscribed by his own. For, 
after active efforts, having succeeded in setting a consti- 
tutional reform in motion, the storm that rose in France 
bore down the best of those who had aided the movement. 
The National Assembly declared him a traitor to his 
country, and flying from arrest to the enemy, he was 
closely immured at Olmiitz. Efforts were made to pro- 
cure the intercession of England in his behalf; l)ut there 
was little reason to expect that England should espouse 
his cause. Pitt set his face against it; and when a lord 
bewailed his unliappy state to George III. in hope of ex- 
citing the royal sympathy, the king' is said to have cut 
the sjjeaker short with two pregnant words— "Remember 
Andre."* 

* Analectic Mag. ii. 172. In the Commons, March 17, 1794 Gen. 
Fitzpatrick moved that the king be besought to intercede with the 
court of Berlin for La Fayette and liis companions. Burke vehe- 
mently replied in most denunciatory terms against La Fayette, 
whom he considered the author and origin of innumerable outrages 
in France. The only precedent, he said, for the interference of 



CHAEACTERS OF OUR GENERALS. 481 

Of Robert Howe not a great deal is known. He was 
probably an Englisbman : at all events be was in tbe Eng- 
lish service before the war; was settled in North Caro- 
lina; and had commanded (I think) Fort Johnston, where 
a garrison of ten men was kept up in time of peace. He 
was an early and active V^liig, representing Brimswick 
county; and in 1775, was proclaimed against bv Gov. 
Martin as "Robert Hoices, alias Howe." In 1776 Clin- 
ton debarked on his plantation; and specially excepted 
him from grace. He is described by Smith as a good of- 
ficer and a superior engineer : and I have other reasons 
for believing that here Smith is right. Irvine and others 
however distrusted his general capacitv in a serious 
emergency. It is probable that Howe had all the book- 
learning of his trade. His years were doubtless well ad- 
vanced at this time, and Chastellux pronounces him fond 
of music, the arts, and pleasure, and of cultivated mind. 
In Au.gust, 1785, he was appointed by Congress to treat 
with the Western Indians. 

Steuben, born in 1730, had served at the age of four- 
teen; but he does not appear to have held higher than 
regimental rank in the Prussian army. The idea of his 

one power with another in behalf of the subject of a third was "the 
case of the interposition of the late court of France, which was; 
now so frequently denominated despotic and tyrannical, in favour 
i / 1 V f f ^^'"' '^" interposition which was chiefly rendered 
eitectual by the exertions of the late unfortunate queen."" France 
he continued, claimed La Fayette as a traitor, whom the rabble he 
had been instrumental in elevating to povyer, were desirous of 
sacrificmg. He had volunteered for America and against England! 
before any hos ilities between England and France, and had re- 
belled against his own lawful sovereign. After citations of his 
alleged participation in some popular violences in his own country 
Burke concluded: "I would not debauch my humanity by support- 
ing an appheat.on like the present in behalf of such a horrid ru- 
han. _ The motion was lost: 46 against 153; but the episode is 

hZTv °°'i/"i k" ^''^'''' ^'^'- ^' '' ^°* °ft^° Americans hava- 
heard him called by such names. 



31 



482 LIFE OF MAJOR A>"DEE. 

having been a favorite general of the great Frederick's is 
all a delusion. He was an honest old soldier of fortcme, 
and a sLngularly accomplished disciplinarian.* His re- 
^"iew of a brigade would extend to every arm and accoutre- 
ment of every ofiSeer and private ; blaming or praising as 
the case required. The surgeon's list would be examined, 
the disorders of the patients inquired Into, and their 
treatment. These inspections are sometimes the subject 
of precise narration, yet no annalist mentions any diffi- 
culty of language in comprehending or satisfying the 
baron. On the contrary we are expressly told that though 
never perfectly its master, he had like La Fayette a suf- 
ficiently correct knowledge of our tongue. He was not 
however on friendly terms with La Fayette: and in 
America would boast of having been in the battle of Eoss- 
bach, where he made the Frenchmen run. Steuben was 
beloved by his troops, to whom, like Trajan or Hadrian 
of old, he would not scruple to give himself manual in- 

* An inciJent at Yorktown shows his perfect acquaintance with 
the laws of war. in opposition to La Fayette's. He commanded in 
the trenches when a flag came out with proposals of capitulation. 
While the negotiation went on. La Fayette's tour of duty arrived; 
as it was of c-ourse a {x>uit of honor to plant otir flag on the enemy's 
fortress, there was a competition for the command that would give 
the right. Steuben asserted that having rec-eived the flag, he was 
entitled to retain his place till the negotiation was closed either by 
surrender or renewed hostilities. La Fayette denied this, and 
marched with his division to relieve the German : who would not be 
relieved. La Fayene appealed to Washington: the case was car- 
ried to Rochambeau and his chiefs, and it was decided that the 
baron was right, and must retain the command. The matter does 
not seem to have ended here. Ensign Deimy (apparently of La 
Fayette's division) was detailed to erect our standard when the 
troops entered Yorktown. and was in the act of planting it on the 
parapet before the three armies when Steuben galloped up, took 
the flag, and planted it himself. Ill blood existed on both sides, 
and a challenge from Butler of Wavne's brigade went to Steuben, 
which it required all the influence of Washington on one side and 
Rochambeau on the other to hush up. Hems. Hist. Soc. Penn. 
vii. 214. 486. 



CHARACTERS OP OUR GENERALS. 433 

tl'S^^of ^U ^^'^^'"^f^- ^>- ^-P^-ty as superior 
to that of bis tellows; aud esteemed him an expert sol 
dier, well-skilled in adapting the science of wa o it 
character of his followers and the nature of the countr" 
Tliere was no earthly reason to suppose that he did not 
perfectly comprehend the circumstances of Andre's case 

Mm '' ^^^V'^T^''""''^- "^' '' impossible to save 
liim, wrote the baron. "He put us to no proof, Init in 
an open man y manner confessed everything but a pre- 
meditated design to deceive. Would to God the^retcl who 
diew him to death could have suffered in his place!"* 

Parsons was a Connecticut law>-er before the war, and 
a graduate of Harvard in 1756. He was of a good Mas- 
sachusetts family, and in 1780 was probablv about forty 
years of age. In 1775 he was settled in the tenth colo- 
nelcy of the Continental army by Washington, albeit he 
had headed a remonstrance of the Connecticut line to its 
legislature against the action of Congress that gave pre- 
cedence to Putnam over Spencer. They "had no objec- 
tion^ to the appointment of Generals Washington and 
i-ee, but apprehended danger to the morals and disci- 

* ^^fP\ Steuben, 290, 477. Thacher, 195, 517. The baron 
tio'" mn '° «P^^^l-dly of Arnold's misconduct after hs i c" 
hTs;«rl i^^Pftmg Sheldon's Dragoons, the hated name struck 
hib ear on the roster. He called the bearer to the front and found 
1 IS equipments m capital order. "Change your name bi-other ol 
Cher, you are too respectable to bear the naml of a tS^r '' "What 

™ t1 e ''''"Thf?"^^-"' "^^^'" ^^' °"-^ "--• Mine is a 
In Z ■ , ^''^ trooper s name was thenceforth Steuben- and 
after the war he settled on land bestowed by his new godfether 

I h vlTn f *''^' ^''"'.f ^'" •l""^^^ 1^^' "'-""^l h'-^ve a wife a on 
it: '^"f "y '°^ ^fter you, Sir." "I thank you, my friend' 
hat name have you given the boy?" "I called him Baron "was 
the answer;— "what else could I call him i" ' 

It Steuben's after-life was for a time clouded by pecuniary di. 
tress It IS grateful to know that his services at lastS nanded a 

romSable!'''""^'"^^'""^* '^"" ^'"^"^ which mad^rsddtge 



484 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDBE. 

pline of the line by Putnam's superiority. Memorials 
of this kinil Washington had in wise aversion. Parsons 
was a man of parts. 

Clinton, born in 1737, was perhaps of the same blood 
with Sir Henry, in resisting whom he had been seriously 
wounded. He displayed an early fondness for military 
life, and served in the Seven Years' War. He excelled 
in the exact sciences, and was father of De Witt Clinton. 
In 1775, he was with Montgomery, and his name heads the 
apology by which that general was persuaded to resume 
the command that the insubordination of some of his of- 
ficers had provoked him to throw up.* 

Knox, born in 1750, had a good though not a collegiate 
education, and in youth was so fond of military pursuits 
that at eighteen he was chosen captain of a vohmteer 
company of grenadiers. He was a bookseller, and ac- 
quainted with the French language; and though his tal- 
ents were unknown to Samuel Adams, they were at once 
discovered in our army. The aged and incapable Gridley 
was ousted from the command of the artillery department, 
and under the direction of Knox a system of fortifications 
were thrown up before Boston, whose strength Howe 
owned at sight, without venturing to a practical test. 

* In 1777, one Daniel Taylor, deceived by the British imiforms 
which a party of our troops wore, and by the name of General 
Clinton, did not discover his position till he was led before our 
general. He then swallowed a silver bullet, but an emetic bring- 
ing it back, it was found to unscrew and contain this note: — "To 
General BrRGOvxE: — Fart Montgomery, Oct. Sth. 1777. Nous 
voici — and nothing between us but Gates. I sincerely hope this 
little success of ours may facilitate your operations. In answer to 
your letter of the 2Sth of September by C. C. I shall only say, I 
cannot presume to order, or even advise, for reasons obvious. I 
heartily wish you success. Faithfully yours. H. Clixtox." — Tay- 
lor was hanged at West Hurley, Ulster County, X. Y. : "Out of 
thine own mouth shalt thou be condemned," said the American 
officer. 



CHARACTERS OF Ollll GENERAr.S. 4^5 

Mrs. Warren attributes his advancement to personal 
ratlier than military considerations; though she confesses 
he made an excellent officer. The testimony of Washing- 
ton, of Rochambeau, of Dumas, and of Rawdon to his 
great military qualifications, added to that of Chastellux 
as to his understanding and information, are sufficient 
to establish the real worth of his character. 

Glover, born about 17.3.-), was, T believe, of a wealthy 
family of Marblehead. lie took an early share in the con- 
test Diminutive in person, he was active in habit and a 
good soldier. He had ]H-obably been a ship-owner before 
the war, and the regiment that he raised in 1775 was mainly 
composed of seafaring men. It was one of the first filled 
up m Massachusetts, and when taken into Continental 
pay still preserved its efficiency. The roster of officers 
witli Its Williams and Thomases, offers a contrast to the' 
Jedidiahs, Abels, and Abijahs, the Fennels, Melatiahs, 
and Amoses, who at that time so often made a New Eng- 
land regimental list to savor of "a catalogue of Praise- 
(^od Barebones's parliament or the roll of one of old 
Noll's evangelical armies." In service it was especially 
exempted from the sweeping contempt that was visited 
on the shortcomings of some of its countrymen by the 
middle and southern soldiery. "The only exception I 
recollect to have seen these miserably constituted bands 
from New England was the regiment of Glover from 
Marblehead. There was an appearance of discipline in 
this corps; the officers seemed to have mixed with the 
world, and to understand what belonged to their stations, 
ihough deficient, perhaps, in polish, it possessed an ap- 
parent aptitude for the purpose of its institution, and 
gave confidence that myriads of its meek and lowly breth- 
ren were incompetent to inspire. But even in this regi- 
ment there were a number of negroes, which, to persons 
unaccustomed to such associations, had a disagreeable, 



486 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

degrading eflfect."* Glover's command led the advance 
in the passage of the Delaware at Trenton, and its com- 
mander was never found remiss. 

Of Patersont I find nothing beyond Thacher's record 
of a visit to his quarters in 1781, when "the general hu- 
morously apologized that he could afford us nothing bet- 
ter than a miserable glass of whiskey grog. ' ' 

Hand, born in Ireland in 1744, came hither as surgeon's 
mate of the 18th or Royal Irish in 1774, and resigning his 
commission, practised medicine. He applied for the i)ost 
of Hospital Director when Washington (Oct. 12, 1775) 
wrote to Congress that he was ignorant of the merits of 
the respective candidates. He was named second lieu- 
tenant-colonel of our army (Nov. 12, 1775) in William 
Thompson's Pennsylvania regiment, whose courage be- 
fore Boston, when others behaved with backwardness, was 
specially noticed a week later in General Orders. He was 
now a brigadier of La Fayette's corps d' elite. 

Huntington, born in 1743 and a graduate of Harvard 

* Graydon, 148. "These were the lads that mijiht do some- 
thing!" cried the spectators, as 500 strong, it came along after the 
defeat of Long Island. A passage in the citation above may ren- 
der it necessary to remark that negroes were hardly thought worthy 
to share in the struggle for Independence. The Massachusetts 
Provincial Congress (Oct., 17 T4). being requested in its efforts to 
preserve its constituents from slavery, to consider the state and 
circumstances of the Xegro Slaves in the province, refused to en- 
tertain the question, and voted that "the matter now subside." 
Accordingly, at a Council of War, Oct. 8, IT To, present Washing- 
ton. Ward. Lee, Putnam, Thomas, Spencer, Heath, Sullivan. 
Greene, and Gates, it was unanimously resolved to eject all slaves 
from enlistment, and, by a great majority, to reject negroes alto- 
gether. At a conference of a Committee from Congress and the 
civil authorities of all Xew England with Washington in the same 
month, it was agreed that negroes should be altogether rejected 
from enlistment in our army. — Am. Arch, ith ser. iii. 1040, 1161. 

t See the life of General Paterson, by the late Prof. Thomas 
Egleston. — [Ed.] 



CHARACTERS OF OUR GENERALS. 487 

in 1763, was a merchant of good estate and ancient family 
at Norwich, and was son-in-law of Governor Trumbull 
His manners were cold, but he had acknowledged sense 
and information; and his virtues must have been remark- 
able, since through the terms of four different occupants 
of the presidential chair he retained the collectorship of 
customs at New London from 1789 until he was removed 
by death in 1815. 

Stark, born in 1728, seems to have had but a rural edu- 
cation. But war had a charm for him, and what military 
knowledge could be ac(]uired by command of a partisan 
company in the Seven Years' War, he doubtless possessed. 
The assumption of superiority by the young British of- 
ficers drove him to resign; though his qualities had 
gained him the confidence of Abercrombv, nephew of the 
commanding general, and of the young Lord Howe. He 
was a hardy, honest, self-willed man, impatient of subor- 
dination where he did not think it due. Difficulties on 
this^ point sprung up as soon as he joined our armv in 
1775 : and later, he resigned in discontent with being over- 
slaughed in promotions. He only resumed arms in the 
service of New Hampshire on the express condition of 
exemption from obedience to the orders of Congress. The 
public confidence in him was so great that John Langdon 
gave his money, his plate, and his merchandise, to set on 
foot Stark's opposition to Burgoyne: and the Benning- 
ton victory was of such moment that he was forthwith 
made a Continental brigadier. He felt the hardship of 
the case, but united with his brethren in the judgment that 
Andre was a spy, and should be put to death: and not 
long after, m his own command, hung Lovelace for a like 
offence. He ran a saw-mill when the war broke out; and 
IS described by Thacher as joining to an unspotted char- 
acter and great private worth, neither the habits nor the 
appearance of an officer. 



488 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Such was the constitution of the board that pronounced 
on Andre's case. If some of its members may be found 

Wise without learning, plain and good, 

the greater part by far miist be confessed to have been of 
sufficient education and of military training.* Of Wash- 
ington nothing need be said : but can we suppose that if 
he and St. Clair, Stirling. Clinton. Howe, and Stark, had 
continiied to hold the King's commission from the Seven 
Tear's "War, and now sat in a court called by royal au- 
thority, their decision would not have been received in 
England as authoritative, especially when confirmed by 
the concurrent voices of Steuben and La Fayette? That 
the English leaders sincerely thought it erroneous in prin- 
ciple and colored with passion or policy may not be ques- 
tioned; and their public and private respectability en- 
forces our attention to their views. But what reason is 
there to suppose that prejudice or excitement should sway 
one party less than the other .' Indeed the case appeal's 
to have admitted at least of such nice distinctions that we 
cannot refuse the attribute of perfect sincerity- to both: 
for even within the last few years, the patient investiga- 
tion of two calm and vigorous minds on either side has 
left the question exactly where it was before. Lord Ma- 
hon is satisfied that the Americans were wrong. Major 
Biddle, whose own military antecedents give weight to 
his conclusions, is convinced they were eminently right. 
It might seem presumptuous for me to declare positively 
that either side is in error ; since after all the case was one 
not covered by any prescription of the text-books on the 
laws of nations or of war ; and therefore was apparently 

* My friend Major Charles J. Biddle has already so satisfactorily 
gone over this ground, as well as much more relative to the sub- 
ject of this book, that an apology is almost necessary for my treat- 
ing of it at all. 



SUMMARY OF THE CASE. 489 

to be governed by the deductions of ca military tril)imal 
from the great general principles therein laid down. For 
it is not evident that Andre entered our lines in disguise, 
which is one of the first requisites to a spy from the ene- 
my : and the suborning of a hostile general, though pro- 
tested against by Vattel as incompatible with personal 
purity, is allowed to be in accordance with international 
law: and much more so, he says, is it fair to merely ac- 
cept the proposals of a traitor. The romantic interest 
that has always been attached to Andre's character has 
in a measure clouded the judgment that men would arrive 
at as to his fate : it will be well therefore to give a sum- 
mary here of the facts as they are drawn from the stoiy 
of not one, but all sides. 

Arnold volunteered to surrender West Point on suf- 
ficient assurance that he should lose neither in pocket nor 
in rank by so doing. He demanded that an agent should 
meet him to settle the preliminaries. By Clinton's order, 
Andre went in a King's ship for this end, expecting the 
interview would occur on board, or at least under a flag 
of truce and not in our lines. Arnold's emissary brought 
him from the Vulture in his uniform and with a safe-con- 
duct from that general, but under a feigned name, by 
night, and with a watch-coat covering his person. There 
is little doul)t here that Smith saw him in uniform, and 
that he had no intention of exposing himself to any other 
risk than of becoming a prisoner of war. He came ashore 
at a place very near to but not within our lines. Here 
Arnold met him, and well knowing his name and quality, 
under the plea that he could not possibly return to tlie 
ship that night, led him unawares and against his stipula- 
tion within our picket though not into any of our works. 
Andre still was attired as when he landed. He remained 
concealed for nearly a day, making no plans or observa- 



490 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

tiout;. but possessing himself of all the informatiou Ar- 
nold had to give. For what end is not accurately knovru 
(though Arnold alleges it was his direction that they 
should be thus transmitted to Clinton) he took several 
important papers from the American general, and con- 
cealed them on his person. By the same orders he dis- 
guised himself, and abandoned his uniform; and acting 
in every respect by Arnold's direction, and under his safe- 
conduct, bearing an assumed character both in dress and 
in name. Here he was taken, hax-ing from before he en- 
tered until after he left our limits been known to and di- 
rected by our general there commanding. 

In considering these facts, it must be remembered that 
by Andre's own avowal he was, though involuntarily, an 
impostor; and that the boat cari-ied no flag, nor did he 
suppose he came ashore under that sanction. This last 
declaration may be balanced by the fact that he did not 
then believe he was to be Virought anywhere but to neutral 
ground : but the after-incidents are not thus altered. The 
question then arises whether Arnold had lawfully the 
power to secure him. by the moans employed, from the 
vengeance of the Americans? This is a point that mili- 
tary men must solve. Arnold had undoubtedly the right 
to issue safe-conducts that would ]n-otect their bearer 
from our troops, provided the business was fair to our 
coimtry. Had he. so far as the bearer was concerned, the 
right to go further? How far does the fact that Andre 
was inveigled, as it were, into a jiosition that left him no 
other means of extrication than such as Arnold prescribed 
affect the merits of his ease? And above all, was or was 
not the safe-conduct given to him in a feigned name when 
he came to shore, equivalent to a flag? 

The gist of the American opinion seems to be that a 
fraud of this nature taints everything it touches ; and the 



SUMMARY OF THt CASE. 491 

parties to it, if at all they are compassed by tJie letter of 
the law, are justly amenable to punishment. Whether 
Andre therefore left the Vulture under sufficient protec- 
tion is an important question. Had he openly borne a 
flag of truce sent either from his own party or by the 
Americans, he could unquestionably have passed back 
under it at any season. A flag gives its bearer the sanc- 
tity of an ambassador; the violation of whose safe-con- 
duct has from the most polished nations of antiquity been 
the received signal for rancorous war. "Men of Tar- 
entum," said the Roman legate to the Greeks that mocked 
at his defiled garments; "it will take not a little blood to 
wash this gown. ' ' Even the wild Arabs of the desert re- 
spected the safety of the envoy that brought them the 
most insulting missives ; and beyond making him swallow 
the scroll, ventured on no personal aggression: and the 
red Indian esteems himself in perfect security when he 
advances with the calumet in hand. In fact, a flag of 
truce is the substitute for the ancient herald. In the first 
stages of our war, "a trumpeter or flag of truce" were 
correlative terms. Passing in the face of danger, they 
courted publicity by appeals to eye and ear. In Canada, 
Montgomery and Prescott employed a flag and drum: 
and that his flag-officer was twice fired on from the walls 
of Quebec Arnold regarded as a most infamous infraction 
of civilized warfare. So at Boston in 1775, Howe tartly 
intimated to Washington that our i^eople so constantly 
fired upon his officers returning from parleys applied for 
by ourselves, that he desired no intercourse between the 
two armies should continue, except where Washington 
would send his own letters in by a drummer : and in the 
turmoil before Yorktown, the flag that proposed surren- 
der was accompanied by a drum beating a parley. The 
after-passage of flags without a drum was especially 
commented on. But the drum and trumpet were lawfully 



492 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

hushed wlion armies were uot met face to faoe : and then 
it is ]iossil)le tliat a safe-conduct may have heen equiva- 
lent to a flag of 1 ruce. Kobertson took this view : but it 
does not clearly ajipear whether Greene denied it in toto 
or merely held that Andre did not come ashore with any- 
thing in the form of a protection. 

To my mind it is clear that his errand was of a nature 
directly opposed to the end for which flags are designed, 
and as he was detected in an appearance of guilt, it would 
require a very strong case to exonerate Andre from pun- 
ishment. The reader must decide whether such a case 
was made out by his friends. If he was within our lines 
under a flag, why did he not return under its protection? 
If he was not thus guarded, in what capacity was he there! 

The tendency of some writers to suppose that tlie mo- 
ment a man becomes a spy he puts himself out of human- 
ity's reach has probably warped many judgments on this 
matter. In point of fact, there is nothing in the history 
of ancient or modern warfare to warrant such a theory. 
That in the abstract the proceeding is no more defensible 
than manslaying, cannot be denied: but it is with the cus- 
toms of this world, not with siiblimated abstractions, that 
we have to do. AVe will jiass over the examples of the 
Jews, because this people's ways in war or in jjeace were 
almost peculiar to themselves.* But "in the most high 
and palmy state of Rome" we find spies and deserters 
constantly encouraged. The Spaniard Balbus, the friend 

* Though Joshua indeed sent his spies down into the promised 
land, we do not want examples of the manner in which the Old 
Testament has taught people to deal with such characters. The 
Calvinist minister who urged the Eochellois to shiy the king's 
trumpeter bringing proposals to the revolted city found a text for 
even further proceedings. "If any one entice thee secretly to go 
and worship otlier gods, thou shalt surely kill him: thine hand 
shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the 
hand of all the people." — Merimee: Charles IX. c. 25. 



EMPLOYMENT OF SPIES. 493^ 

alike of Pompey and of Caesar, acquired unprecedented 
honors tlirough such secret service in a civil war: and 
his name is immortalized by the eloquence of Cicero. 
Constantine, the upholder of our faith, esteemed it no 
degradation to seduce his opponent's followers: and an- 
other CcTsar did not think the imperial purple was sullied 
by entering the Persian camp as a spy, and following up 
his explorations with a prodigious rout. By such means 
Alfred drove the Danes from England. Nor need we rest 
upon the dusty records of by-gone ages : the annals of 
modern warfare furnish abundant and far more valuable 
examples of the light in which the character and services 
of a spy are held. In the Peninsular War they were 
freely employed by all parties, and were not necessarily 
thought base. Wellington had a legion of them in the 
French lines, from the haughty grandee who boasted a 
sangre azul noble as the king's, to the little cobbler on the 
bridge of Irun, who sat on his bench and from one year's 
end to another kept tale of every French soldier that en- 
tered Spain. British officers also notably acted in the 
field as spies : and where double treason was not wrought 
Napier says all these characters were highly meritorious. 
Carrara did not scruple to offer honors and wealth to Ney 
if he would desert his standard : and Napoleon himself, 
not only by allurements but more unjustifiably by severi- 
ties, sought to bring to his own aid the professional serv- 
ices of persons over whom the fortunes of war gave him 
power.* There is one case in particular however in these 
times that strongly reminds us of Andre's. 

* Captain Colquhoun Grant was the most famous English spy in 
the Peninsular War, though he always kept his uniform. Being 
employed by Wellington to ascertain JIarmont's route, and thus his 
purpose, he got in front of the French and after a hard chase was 
run down, ilarmont received him kindly, for he was overjoyed 
at the capture, and sat him down to dinner. "I would have shot 
him on the spot." he said, "had it not been for respect to some- 



494 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

lu 1809, the imperial ambition of Bonaparte excited the 
republican officers to look to St. Cyr or Ney as a leader in 
its repression. John Viana, the son of an Oporto mer- 
chant, brought proposals from the French ])lotters to 
Marshal Beresford, asking that an English officer should 
meet them to arrange for the i)lan of action, which in- 
volved the seizAire and surrender of Soult, their leader. 
"This was a detestable project," says Napier, "for it is 
not in the field, and with a foreign enemy, that sol- 
diers should concert the overthrow of their country's 
institutions. It would be idle and impertinent in a 
foreigner to say how much and how long men shall 
bear what they deem an ojipressive government; yet 
there is a distinct and especial loyalty due from a 
soldier to his general in the field; a compact of 
honor, which it is singularly base to violate, and so 
it has in all ages been considered." An English col- 
onel in uniform reluctantly went by night to meet them 
on a lake behind the French outposts. They missed each 
other, and returning he found ^"iana and the French Ad- 
jutant-Major D'Argenton in the English lines. The lat- 
ter boldly went on to Beresford at Lisbon, conceiving his 
backers too numerous and powerful for him to incur 
much danger in his own army. Wellesley did not give 
the plan very hearty encouragement; and when D'Ar- 

thing resembling a uniform tlmt he wore when taken."" But he 
look his parole not to be rescued by guerillas on the road (Welling- 
ton having oii'ered $"2,000 reward for his recovery) and sent him to 
Bayonne with secret orders to the governor there to send him in 
irons to Paris. Grant wormed out this secret; and eloping at 
Bayonne, went himself to Paris and remained there unsuspected 
till he heard one day that an American sailor named Jonathan 
Buck liad suddenly died, leaving his passport uncalled for at the 
Bureaii. He at once claimed it, pretending to be Buck; hastened 
to tlie mouth of the Loire; got a clandestine passage on a vessel: 
and in four months from his original capture he was again playing 
iiround the skirts of the French in Spain. 



EMPLOTMEKT OF SPIES. 495 

genton came back a second time (the first essay being un- 
noticed or nnpunished) he gave him the good advice to 
avoid receiving an English safe-conduct. The warning 
was disregarded. D'Argenton was discovered and con- 
demned: but the punishment was not executed, and he 
finally escaped. Others, French colonels, also conferred 
with Sir Arthur in his campaigns: nor must we forget 
Don Uran de la Eosa, whom the English thought a Span- 
iard, the Spanish an Italian, the French no one knows 
what, and the mystified Alava, Cagliostro or some such 
wizard: and who dined alternately in the opposing 
camps, carrying intelligence indifferently to either side. 
The case of the Frenchman Perron, who came over from 
Scindia in 1803 on overtures from Lord Lake, was not 
unlike Arnold's. 

In our Eevolution then we need not be surprised to find 
that the employment of spies was practised on the most 
extensive scale from the very outset. In the siege of 
Boston, John Carnes, a grocer, is commemorated as 
Washington's secret intelligencer; and by handbills sent 
in on the wind the troops were tempted to desert and to 
supply our own ranks. In 1775, also, by order of Con- 
gress two persons were privately sent by our general to 
Nova Scotia, to discover its strong places and to tamper 
with the people. In England we had a jjerfect corps of 
spies ; some of them men of position. In Xew York, 
"Washington maintained through the war, and particu- 
larly in 1779 and 1780, an organization that under the 
guise of zealous loyalists never failed to ad\ase him in- 
stantly of any considerable movement. These kept their 
secret so well that at the evacuation he had to send Tall- 
madge in while yet Carleton held the town, to provide for 
the safety of his agents. One who had never been sus- 
pected was caught tempting soldiers to desert, and hanged 
at Brunswick. Another, whose observations j^erhaps on 



496 LIFE OF MAJOR AXDRE. 

occasion saved Washington's life, was able by his con- 
nections with the West Indian house of Kortwright and 
Company to unsuspectedly pick up much useful informa- 
tion for our army. Yet his character was so little affected 
by these transactions that he remained the valued friend 
of both Hamilton and Washington; and it was perhaps 
to set his patriotism straight in the popular view that our 
general on the final entrance into the city took his first 
breakfast at his hoiise. Arnold had him seized and tried 
hard to hang him, when he came over; but there was not 
enough evidence.* It was believed when Clinton started 
to relieve Coruwallis the expedition was betrayed to the 
Americans by means of a white flag displayed on a roof 
in New York and answered by a gun about a mile from 
Paulus Hook. Thus the news traveled 600 miles on to 
Washington in forty-eight hours. Congress itself not 
only retained spies in that city, but through the war left 
no stone unturned to sap the fidelity of the enemy's army; 
offering particularly great pecuniary temptations to of- 
ficers to desert with their commands. The English did 
the same; and both sides had some success. A regular 
spy association for the enemy ramified through Norwalk, 
Stratford, and other Connecticut towns ; and our generals 
were pestered with more than one such a "sly, artful fel- 
low" as McKeel,t seducing the soldiers and getting re- 
cruits for the British. In fact. La Fayette and every 
other general hesitated not to use a spy; and the better 

* Hamilton"^ Hist. Be p. i. -16, 5'^ 7. It may have been to this 
person that Washington refers in his letter to Congress, Oct. 15, 
1780: — "Unluckily the person in whom I have the greatest confi- 
dence is afraid to take any measure for communication with me 
just at this time, as he is apprehensive that Arnold may possibly 
have same knowledge of the connection, and may have him watch- 
ed. But as he is assured that Arnold has not the most distant 
hint of him, I expect soon to hear from him as usual." 

t Heath. 



EMPLOYMENT OF SPIES. 497 

the man the better was the intelligence. In the same year 
that Andre was hanged, Washington applied to Bowdoin 
and Heath for some draughtsmen of superior understand- 
ing, firmness, and fidelity, to clandestinely make plans for 
him of the enemy's works ; and if he sometimes found his 
own secrets betrayed to Clinton, he did not scruple to 
mislead the go-betweens with false intelligence Such 
courses are sanctioned by the customs of war, and if 
Kush s plan of sending a German baron into Howe's lines 
to seduce the Hessians found favor in American eyes, the 
British thought it as fair to seek to allure Sullivan 
Moultne, Ethan Allen, and others, to exchange their serv- 
ice and break their faith : a severe construction of the law 
might even have brought Franklin, Chase, and Carroll 
into an awkward predicament had their Canadian mission 
left them m Carleton's hands. Indeed the action of Ar- 
nold was for the moment fondly believed in England to 
have been shared by his fellows; and the names of Knox 
and Stirling, Howe, Sullivan, and Maxwell, were ridic- 
ulously bandied about as of fallers-off from the cause. 

It may be as well to observe that our Congress had in 
1//8 clearly announced the rigor with which thev would 
on necessity deal with any but an unimpeachable flag 
Lieutenant Helef was sent from New York with a flag 
of truce to Philadelphia, bearing copies of the Commis 
sioners' Manifesto addressed to Congress, the several 
^gislatui-es, the clergy, the army, and the people at large 
His vessel was wrecked, and after some suifering and loss 
ot lite the crew were rescued and brought to Philadelphia 
Congress thereon resolved that the nature of Hele's mis- 
sion was not to be protected by a flag, and threatened for 
some time to proceed to extremes with him. It is said 
but with no evidence of truth, that during his prolonged 

t Or Healy. 



498 LIFE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

detention Hele avenged himself, by seducing Arnold. 
But this and other instances plainly showed that Congress 
was not to be restrained on occasion from restricting the 
sanctity of flags to its narrowest limits. 

The inflexibility with which "Washington regarded 
Andre's case has been the subject of severe criticism. 
But the public weal was in my opinion the motive as well 
as the measure of his conduct. Emergencies sometimes 
spring up in which it is difficult to decide whether the 
general good does or does not demand unshrinking se- 
verity: and it must be confessed that no oft"ence so tends 
to shake the stern impartiality of the sovereign authority 
as that which seems to threaten the subversion of all its 
rights and powers. Yet had Brutus failed to doom his 
son to death, we are well advised that the unsettled liber- 
ties of Rome would have perished Ln their cradle. The 
necessities of the State is proverbially the tyrant's plea; 
but how often do we see its advantages practically illus- 
trated in the increased welfare of the community. Every 
one recollects how many Sepoys in the late Indian rebel- 
lion were blown into fragments on this pretext; yet who 
■will say that, with regard to humanity at large, real mercy 
did not here temper justice .' Xo civilized nation hesitates 
to fulfil to the bitter end the rescripts of its tribimals, 
when national existence is threatened with destruction 
by lenity. We have Mr. Fox's authority (and better is 
not to be obtained) for saying that the brother of the king 
of France— I'Homme au Masque de Fer — was by state 
policy the inmate of a dungeon from his cradle to his bier. 
If we turn to English annals we find so late as 1S15 the 
first jurists of the land— one might nearly say of the 
■world— discussing the fate of Napoleon. Lord Ellenbor- 
ough. Sir "William Grant, the great Stowell.— whose in- 
terpretations of international law may almost be consid- 
ered as its text,— the Chancellor Eldon— all were ranged, 



REFLECTIONS ON ANDRE 's FATE. 



499 



a terrible show," in solemn conclave on the destiny of 
one whose fiat had lately made Europe tremble. A more 
lotty tribunal never judged a greater man ; yet the divers- 
ity of opinion that arose sets the conflicting Sentiments on 
Andre s ease utterly in the background. This man was 
for giving lum up to Louis XVIIL to be tried for treason; 
that, for setting him at perfect liberty; and the next, thai 
he was a mere vivate~"hostis huniani generis carryin- 
about with him ca/mt lupinum." The solution of" the 
business was, in Eldon's common-sense view,-"that the 
case was not provided for by anything to be found in Gro- 
tius or Vattel, but that the law of self-preservation would 
justify the keeping of him under restraint in some distant 
region, where he should be treated with all indulgence 
compatible with the peace of mankind. ' ' Here principles 
supplied the want of precedent as perfectly as in Andre's 
case. 



case 



But when all is spoken, shall we pronounce Andre's an 
unhappy fate? Has not the great law of compensation 
glided his name with a lustre that in life could never, with 
all his ardent longing for fame, have entered into his most 
sanguine hopes? If he perished by an ignominious 
means, he perished not ignominiously: if he died the 
death of a felon, it was with the tears, the regrets, the ad- 
miration of all that was worthy and good in the ranks 
alike of friend and foe. The heartiest enemies of his 
nation joined with its chiefs in sounding his praises and 
lamenting his lot. If reputation was his goal, who of his 
compeers has surpassed him in the race? If we turn to 
his own army, we see some protracting an unnoted exist- 
ence, some laid on the shelf and repining in obscurity, 
some haltingly keeping a place in the world's eye less by 
merit than by fortune. Abercromby it is true died hap- 
pily m the arms of victory; while Simcoe sunk at the mo- 
ment when the pathway to the glory that none more cov- 



500 LXFE OF 3IAJOB JlSDEE. 

eted and few were so capable to attain was fairly laid open 
to him. Despard. his social messmate and fellow-pris- 
oner, succumbed to the laws of his own land. The gen- 
erous Rawdon,"?" his predecessor in the Adjntant-Gen- 
eralcy. bom to princely title and a princely estate, with 
talents and courage equal to the highest posts, frittered 
away fortune and existence in dependence on the selfish 
friendship of the Prince Regent : and after exiieriencing 
the disappointment of having the cup of power raised to 
his lips but to be snatched away, was dismissed into the 
"splendid banishment" of the Antipodes where the brave 
Mathew. a brother soldier in the American war. had al- 
ready found a death so horrid that Andre's was an en- 
viable fate. Xay. the very sovereign he served so faith- 
fully and well, might have been glad to exchange condi- 
tions with him. Old. mad. and blind, with a soul as dark- 
ened as were his organs of sense, he lingered out his weary 
days in a secluded and guarded chamber under the control 
of keepers whom his few glimpses of returning under- 
standing announced as men that had subjected his person 
to the indignity of the rod. And of the Americans with 
whom Andre had to do, how sad was often their career; 
where decrepitude and poverty came hand in hand, and 
the ingratitude of the empire they had cradled as it were 
in their bucklers and christened with their best blood, was 
at once their ruin and its shame.* The man among them 
who took the warmest interest in Andre's condition, 
whose efforts to save his life were equal to the affectionate 
praise that he gave his memory was doomed to as hard a 
destiny. Four and twenty years after the execution at 
Tappan the same river that flowed within view of the gib- 
bet passed the shore where Alexander Hamilton, the fore- 

t Marquis of Hastings, Governor General of India. 

* The half -pay for life, pledged by Congress to the officers that 
held ont in its cause, and the solitary dependence of many of them, 
is not paid to this day. 



REFLECTIONS ON ANDRE 's FATE. f)!)! 

most man in all this western world, was shot to death. 
Henry Lee, from whose intervention the amelioration of 
Andre's fate was so hoped for, survived to fall into the 
most distressing poverty, and, after lieing brutally l)eaten 
by the American mob, to be "cast into a loathsome jail, 
and subjected to the combined persecution of jiolitical 
rancour, personal cupidity, and vulgar malice." And 
Washington himself lived to hear his countrymen* deny 
to him the possession of either military or civil merit; 
to endure the necessity of relieving his character from the 
charge of official peculation ; to be told that his misdeeds 
had polluted the laresidential ermine to an extent almost 
irremediable; and to die not universally regretted by the 
American people. Surely there are as bitter crosses in 
the worthiest life as any which befell Andre. 

In the fulfilment of an enterprise which he fondly be- 
lieved would, if successful, crown him with the honors 
due to the man who had restored harmony to a divided 
empire, extingTiished the flames of civil war, and gilded 
with renewed lustre the arms of his country, Andre per- 
ished. His motives, inimical as they were to our cause, 
were eminently respectable, and no otherwise allo^^ed with 
personal ambition than is allowable to all human hands 
that seek to serve the state. He died in the morning of 
his life, before success had stained with envy the love that 
all who knew him bestowed upon his worth ; ere his illu- 
sions of youth were dispelled, and while the wine was yet 
bright in his cup and the lees untasted. His dust is laid 
with that of kings and heroes ; and his memory drawing 
as a jewel from its foil fresh brightness from his death — 

Of every royal virtue stands possess'd; 
Still dear to all the bravest and the best. 
His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim, 
His loyalty the king, the world his fame! 

* Some of them, only. — [Ed.] 



APPENDIX No. I. 




BENEDICT ARNOLD. 

IJ: SHALL refrain from lengthening tliis note by 
the insertion of some curious unpublished 
documents respecting Arnold's earlier career, 
and confine myself entirely to such matters as 
may not be generally known relative to his history after 
it became connected with Andre's. The reader will find 
in the Life of Arnold, by Mr. Sparks, an accurate and 
skilfully drawn account of his general history.* Mr. Sa- 
bine, whose opportunities of procuring information about 
the Loyalists were very great, declares it certain that Ar- 
nold was in communication with Robinson before he went 
to West Point; and it is probable that the letter which 
Marbois says was found among his papers and was the 
first overture received from an agent of Clinton's, was 
written by Robinson. It is retranslated here from the 
French version: 

"Among the Americans who have joined the rebel 
standard there are very many good citizens whose only 
object has been the happiness of their country. Such 
men will not be influenced by motives of private interest 
to abandon the cause they have espoused. They are now 
offered everything which can render the colonies really 
happy ; and this is the only compensation worthy of their 
virtue. 

The American colonies shall have their Parliament, 
composed of two chambers, with all its members of Amer- 
ican birth. Those of the upper house shall have titles 

* See also Isaac N. Arnold's Life of Arnold. — [Ed.] 



BENEDICT AENOLD. 503 

and rank similar to those of the house of peers of Eng- 
land. All their laws, and particularly such as relate to 
money matters, shall be the production of this assembly, 
with the concurrence of a Viceroy. Commerce, in every 
part of the globe subject to British sway, shall be as free 
to the people of the thirteen colonies as to the English of 
Europe. They will enjoy, in every sense of the phrase, 
the blessings of good government. They shall be sus- 
tained, in time of need, by all the power necessary to up- 
hold them, without being themselves exposed to the dan- 
gers or subjected to the expenses that are always insepar- 
able from the condition of a State. 

Such are the terms proffered by England in the very 
moment when she is displaying extraordinary efforts to 
conquer the obedience of her colonies. 

Shall America remain without limitation of time a 
scene of desolation— or are you desirous of enjoying 
Peace and all the blessings of her train.? Shall your 
provinces, as in former days, flourish under the protec- 
tion of the most puissant nation of the world! Or will 
you forever pursue that shadow of liberty which still es- 
capes from your hand even when in the act of grasping it?' 
And how soon would that very liberty, once obtained, 
turn into licentiousness, if it be not under the safeguard 
of a great European power? Will you rely upon the 
guaranty of France? They among you whom she has se- 
duced may assure you that her assistance will be generous 
and disinterested, and that she will never exact from you 
a servile obedience. They are frantic with joy at the al- 
liance already established, and promise you that Spain 
will immediately follow the example of France. Are they 
ignorant that each of these States has an equal interest in 
keeping you under, and will combine to accomplish their 
end? Thousands of men have perished; immense re- 



504 



APPENDIX. 



sources have l)een exhausted; and yet, since that fatal 
alliance the dispute has become more embittered than 
ever. Everything urges us to put a conclusion to dissen- 
sions not less detrimental to the A-ictors than to the van- 
quished : but desirable as peace is, it cannot be negotiated 
and agreed upon between us as between two independent 
powers ; it is necessary that a decisive advantage should 
put Britain in a condition to dictate terms of reconcilia- 
tion. It is her interest as well as her policy to make these 
as advantageous to one side as the other ; but it is at the 
same time advisable to arrive at it without an unnecessary 
waste of that blood of which we are already as sparing as 
though it were again our own. 

There is no one but General Arnold who can surmoimt 
obstacles so great as these. A man of so much courage 
will never desjiair of the republic, even when every door 
to a reconciliation seems sealed. 

Eender then, brave general, this important service to 
your country . The colonies cannot sustain much longer 
the unequal strife. Your troops are perishing in misery. 
They are badly armed, half naked, and crying for bread. 
The efforts of Congress are futile against the languor of 
the people. Your fields are untilled, trade languishes, 
learning dies. The neglected education of a whole genera- 
tion is an irreparable loss to society. Your youth, toi'n 
by thousands from their rustic pursuits or useful employ- 
ments, are mown down by war. Such as survive have lost 
the vigour of their prime, or are maimed in battle: the 
greater part bring back to their families the idleness and 
the corrupt manners of the camp. Let us put an end to 
so many calamities; you and ourselves have the same 
origin, the same language, the same laws. "\Ye are inac- 
cessible in our island; and you, the masters of a vast and 
fertile territory, have no other neighbours than the peojile 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 505 

of our loyal colonies. We possess rich establishments in 
every quarter of tlie globe and reign over the fairest por- 
tions of Hmdostan. The ocean is our home, and we pass 
across it as a monarch traversing his dominions. From 
the northern to the southern pole, from the east to the 
west, our vessels find everywhere a neighbouring harbor 
belonging to Great Britain. So many islands, so many 
countries acknowledging our sway, are all i-uled by a uni- 
form system that bears on every feature the stamp of lib- 
erty, yet IS as well adapted to the genius of dilferent na- 
tions and of various climes. 

While the Continental powers ruin themselves bv war 
and are exhausted in erecting the ramparts that separate 
them from each other, our bulwarks are our ships. They 
ennch us; they protect us; they provide us as readilv 
with the means of invading our enemies as of succouring 
our friends. ° 

Beware then of breaking forever the links and ties of 
a friendship whose benefits are proven by the experience 
of a hundred and fifty years. Time gives to humln insti- 
tutions a sti-englh which what is new can only attain, in 
IS turn by the lapse of ages. Eoyaltv itself experiences 
the need of this useful prestige: and the race that has 
reigned over us for sixty years has been illustrious for ten 
centuries. 

United in equality we will rule the universe: we will 
hold it bound, not by arms and violence, but bv the ties 
of conmierce; the lightest and most gentle bands that 
humankind can wear. " 

By the kindness of Mr. Bancroft I am able to give the 
precise sum that Arnold received in satisfaction of his 
alleged losses through his defection. It was £6315- of 
which he remitted £5000 to London to be invested in 



506 APPEXDIX. 

stocks, and procured therefrom £7000 four per cent, con- 
sols. It must be recollected that such compensation was 
customary when an officer went over by previous arrange- 
ment from one standard to another. In the beginning of 
the war, when Lee's capacity was held of the chief est 
importance to our cause, he refused to give up his British 
rank by entering our sei-A'iee till a committee of one from 
every colony in Congress had heard his statement of prob- 
able losses, and agreed to indemnify him therefor. Ar- 
nold also got a brigadiership from the English. "Had 
the scheme succeeded," wrote an officer of the Cold- 
streams, "no rank would have overpaid so important a 
service"; and I am told on good authority that the pre- 
vailing sentiment of the royal army esteemed his proceed- 
ings a proper return to right principles and conduct. The 
money he got however was a scoff to our friends. The 
banker's receipt of his remittance was found in a cap- 
tured vessel, and Franklin wrote of it to La Fayette: 
"Judas sold only one man. Arnold three millions. Judas 
got for his one man thirty pieces of silver, Arnold not a 
halfpenny a head." Mr. Sparks says a pension was after 
the war given to each of Arnold's children: and in 1782, 
"William Lee wrote to our Secretary for Foreign Affairs : 
—"The late British Ministry died as they had lived, for 
one of their last official acts was to give the traitor Ar- 
nold, by patent, one thousand pounds sterling pension 
per annum for his and his wife's lives." 

Arnold was active enough in the British cause. It was 
reported, though apparently untruly, that he had fifty of 
the warmest AMiigs in Xew York seized immediately on 
his arrival. On the 2Sth Oct. 1780, he wrote Lord George 
Germain, ad^•ising England to assimae the arrears of pay, 
at most £500,000, of our soldiers enlisted for the war, or 
to offer a bounty of fifteen or twenty guineas to every de- 
serter, half down, the rest at the end of the contest. He 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 507 

tliouglit the offer of a title to Washington would have a 
good effect : and if arms instead of seduction were to be 
pursued, pointed out how he might be brought to action 
and beaten. His own sacrifices swell the remainder of this 
letter. {MS. State Paper Office K. 30 Nov.) The hatred 
of the Americans, however, went far beyond the praise 
of the English. It reminds us of that of the Persians for 
Omar: and if the Caliph's name signified the devil, Ar- 
nold's became synon\anous with everything that is bad in 
our political vocabulary. "May this arrow go the heart 
of Omar!" said the Persians when they bent the bow: 
and no effort of our leaders was spared to get the de- 
faulter in their hands, where short rope, short shrift 
would have been his doom. Washington set on foot a plan 
for his seizure: La Fayette ordered that he should, if 
captured, be expressly i^revented from surrendering as 
a prisoner of war: Jefferson thought a bribe of 5000 
guineas would ensure a succcessful kidnapping dash into 
his camp. Of Washington's enterprise, in which Harry 
Lee and sergeant Champe figure so romantically, little 
need be said here, since the story has already been well 
told and roundly criticized. Jefferson calls it an his- 
torical romance, bitt there is no doubt that its main facts 
are generally true: that Chamije was induced to desert 
and enter the English service under Arnold, with the de- 
sign of kidnapping him. A Mr. Baldwin of Newark was 
procured to see Champe daily in New York, and aid him 
in the project: for which he was to receive 100 guineas, 
500 acres of land, and three slaves. The story was origi- 
nally told by General Henry Lee himseslf. I was in- 
formed by the late Edward D. Ingraham, Esq., a most 
accomplished historical student and book-collector, that 
a Mr. Beresford, compositor and foreman in the printing- 
house where Lee's vohmies were struck off, had told him 
that the materials for the book came to them in a very un- 



508 APPENDIX. 

digested form aud that they were put into public shape 
by one Lewis P. Franks, who was also employed in the 
office: in confinnation of which Beresford added that the 
copy was kept by them at their discx-etion, and that Franks 
and himself had still possession of many of its original 
letters of Washington. iS:c. As Gen. Lee was in duress 
when he sent his memoirs to press, this anecdote seems 
plausible enough: and Mr. Ingraham was inclined to be- 
lieve that the disci-ejiaucios in Lee's account might thus 
be accounted for. However, all attempts were fruitless 
to get hold of Arnold : though he led daring and destruc- 
tive forays to Connecticut and to ^'irginia. 

It was at Philadeljihia. where Congress sat and where 
]H">litical antagonism among the TTliigs ran fiercest, that 
Arnold was most bitterly condemned. He was attainted 
as a traitor, and his eflfects forfeited and sold. He had 
fonnerly opposed the %-iews of the party there in power: 
the state government had brought him before a co\irt- 
martial: and on his trial he had imputed to President 
Reed, with whom he was on most angry terms, precisely 
the same intentions of defection that he then nursed in his 
own bosom. To the natural expression of hatred of his 
crime was now Joined too open an opportunity to be lost 
of hitting his fonner friends and revenging political 
scores. The Paclet. the organ of the dominant section 
of Whigs, was loud and bitter in its indignation. It 
called on Congress and on the public to offer a free par- 
don and £100,000 to any one that would deliver him up 
dead or alive. This it urged would make him distrust his 
companions, and "at least send Arnold sooner to the in- 
fernal regions." As we can hardly believe that had cir- 
cumstances put it in his power, Arnold woiild have spared 
his mortal foes, it is not surprising they pursued this 
course. "Wlien he marched through Montreal he passed 
a stately old mansion, with a stone dog and bone sunnoimt- 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 5091 

ing tlie door, and this legend that may liave served him 
in stead in his hours of rage : 

Je suis le ehien qui ronge I'os, 
Sans en perdre un seul morceaii: 
Le temps viendra, qui n'est pas venu 
Je niordrai cclui qui m'aura mordu. 

Wounded pride and the prospect of revenge had doubt- 
less much to do with his behavior. The journal went on 
however to denounce him, and to call attention to those 
who had once supported him: and his wife's share in his 
guilt was suggested. The state government, Sept. 27, 
1780, seized his and her papers. There was nothing to 
criminate her; but there were letters found reflecting 
harshly on the French Minister. These were secured by 
a member of the government— a restless zealot, says Mar- 
bois, who to serve his own party scrupled at no rigor to- 
wards its opponents— and sent to the ambassador who 
magnanimously thrust them unread into the fire. The 
Packet alleged also an understanding to have existed be- 
tween Charles Lee and Arnold when the first came back 
from captivity to Valley Forge, and in proof cited from 
a Cork newspaper of Jan. 14, 1779, a paragraph intimat- 
ing that Lee was bribed by Clinton to annoy him as little 
as possible in the march by Monmouth and through Jer- 
sey. It is proper here to correct an error flagrantly made 
by Marbois, who had every opportunity of knowing bet- 
ter, and repeated by Lord Mahon, respecting the lenity 
bestowed on 'Mm. Arnold. She received none at all, unless 
it was in refraining to attaint her without any forthcom- 
ing evidence. At camp indeed she was believed innocent, 
and permitted to choose her destination. She came to 
her father at Philadelphia, and was anxious to remain 
with him; offering security to write no letters to her hus- 
band during the war and to send all received from him 
at once to government. The ci\al authorities refused her 



510 APPENDIX. 

appeal, and enforced their order of exile during the war. 
She was compelled to go to New York, where her dis- 
tressed and dejected air was very observable for a time, 
^lien her spirits however were restored she shone, we 
are told, in society as "a star of the tirst magnitude," and 
expectation even in London was excited by the assevera- 
tions of Tarleton and other returning officers "that she 
was the handsomest woman in England." 

On his own arrival, tlioiigh well received at court where 
leaning on Carleton's arm he was presented by Sir Walter 
Stirling, and in the Cabinet where he was consulted by 
Germain and regarded as a very sensible man, Arnold 
had some pretty hard raps to receive from the Opposition. 
In the Commons Lord Surrey is said to have sent word 
to him that he would move the House to be cleared imless 
he withdrew, and only consented to his remaining for that 
once because he was introduced by a member and prom- 
ised never to come again. It is difficult to believe some 
of the anecdotes, pointed or pointless, that are told of his 
rebuffs. But it appears that he was once hissed at a play- 
house: and that party raillery was not withheld from 
him. Burke and Fox protested against his employment; 
and it was rumored that the King had promised not to 
confide to him the charge of British troops. A noble 
satirist in 1777 had reproached him with the reports of 
his early misdeeds about horses : 

One Arnold too shall feel our ire; 
By horses torn, let him expire 

Amidst an Indian screech! 
Xor by his death let vengeance cease. 
The jockey's ghost can't rest in peace, 

If Burgo)Tie forge his speech! 

"Mr. Arnold," quoth the writer, "is understood to 
have been originally a dealer in horses, and to have had 
his conduct severely criticised, as being the reverse of 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 511 

Saul, in respect to cei"tain strayed asses; for instead of 
finding them before they were lost, he was unable to re- 
cover them after. (See 1st Sam. ix. 3.) " The same bard 
now again made him his theme. 

AN ODE. 

ADDRESSED TO GENERAL ARXOLD. 

AVelcome, "one Arnold," to our shore! 
Thy deeds on Fame's strong pinions bore 

Spread loyalty and reason : 
0! had success thy projects crown'd, 
Proud Washington had bit the ground, 

And Arnold punish'd treason. 

Around you ]iress the sacred band, 
Germain will kneel to kiss your hand, 

Galloway his plaudits blend: 
Sir Hugh will hug you to his heart; 
The tear of joy from Twitcher start; 

And Cockburn hail his friend. 

Since you the royal levees grace, 

Joy breaks through Denbigh's dismal face. 

Sir Guy looks brisk, and capers; 
Grave Amherst teems with brilliant jests: 
The refugees are Stormont's guests; 

His wine's a cure for vapors. 

llild Abingdon shouts out your praise: 
Burgoyne himself will tune his lays. 

To sing your skill in battle; 
Greater than Han's, who scal'd the Alps, 
Or Indian chief's, who brought him scalps 

Instead of Yankee cattle. 

For camp or cabinet you're made: 
A Jockey's half a courtier's trade. 

And you've instinctive art; 
Although your outside's not so drest. 
Bid Mansfield dive into your breast. 

And then report your heart. 



512 APPENDIX. 

What think you of this rapid war? 
Perhaps you'll say we've march 'd too far. 

And spar'd when we should kill : 
Was it by coursing to and fro 
That Sackville beat the daring foe 

Or bravely standing still? 

Heroic Sackville. calm and meek — 
Tho' Ferdinando smote his cheek. 

He never shook his spear; 
(That spear, in Gallic blood fresh dyed;) 
But like Themistoeles, he cryed, 

Frappez, mon prince'. — but hear. 

As yet we've met with trifling crosses. 
And prov'd our force e'en by our losses; 

(Conquest or death's the word:) 
Britons, strike home I Be this your boast. 
After two gallant armies lost. 

Sir Henry — has a third. 

Worn out with toils and great designs, 
Germain to you the seals resigns. 

Your worth superior o\vns; 
Would rev'rend Twitcher now retreat. 
We stUl might keep a greater fleet 

By bribing o'er Paul Jones. 

O'er Twitcher's breast, and Germain's too, 
Fix Edward's star and ribbon blue. 

To ravish all beholders; 
That when to heaven they get a call, 
Their stars ( like Eli's cloak) may fall 

On Paul's and Arnold's shoulders. 

Carmarthen, ope yotir sacred gates. 
The gen'rous, valiant Germain waits. 

Who held the Atlantic steerage: 
(He'll shine a jewel in the crown) 
When Arnold knocks all traitors down, 

He too shall have a Peerage! 

Should faithless Wedderbume decline 
To rank his name, Germain, with thine, 

This truth (unfee'd) I'll tell you; 
Rise a Scotch Peer — right weel I ween. 
You'll soon be chose — one of sixteen — 

Dare Grafton then expel you? 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 513 

A more interesting tirade, inasmuch as it lets in more 
light on Arnold's history was made by a Mr. Robert Mor- 
ris, a Welshman, who had been left in a confidential re- 
lation by Lord Baltimore to his natural daughter. The 
girl had property, and he married her while she was yet 
very young. In two years she separated from him. He 
published his transactions about Arnold in a pamphlet 
of which I know of but one copy. It is entitled "Morris, 
Arnold and Battersby. Account of the Attack I made 
on the character of General Arnold, and the dispute which 
ensued between me and Captain Battersby. R. Morris. 
London, 1782." 8vo. pp. .32. 

The fray began by Morris publishing, Feb. 9, 1782, a 
letter in the General Advertiser, in which he says Arnold 
had been transported from England to America for horse- 
stealing and was thus exposed in both countries to be 
hanged. But he should not be averse to the rope, since 
he left Andre to be hung, to spare himself the risk of send- 
ing him back as he came. "He sent him off to run every 
hazard by himself, secure of his own flight in case Andre- 
was stopt." The bribe was all he wanted: "£8000,. 
which he was sure to touch, was a capital sum for such 
an original beggar." He is indignant at Arnold's recep- 
tion at Court. "A\aien Sir H. Clinton was trying every 
negotiation and manoeuvre to save his Aid-de-Camp, when 
whole battalions were turning out to make an offer of their 
blood in one desperate attempt to rescue him from the 
midst of the American Army, this inglorious fellow who 
had brought him into and left him in all this scrape, made 
no offer of the surrender of his person back to the Ameri- 
cans, which he knew was a sacrifice that would at once be- 
accepted, and would be a sure preservation to Major 
Andre from his impending fate. ' ' He concludes with the 
wish that Arnold would resent his letter; but unfortu- 
nately, liberal as he is of assertion, he had made one here 

38 



514 

tiiat did not serve his turn. A Captain James Battersby. 
of tibe 29th Foot, who had sailed from Chatham. Feh. 2S. 
1776. for ihe r^ef of Qnebeo, and was caprured with 
Bursoyne ar " = - - ----- ^ pj^^ : - : :: ^^.^ 

England in : - 17S1. 'i. m- 

ing Herald that he Terily believed Arnold did offer to 
surrender himself. Morris's reply evaded this jx>inT, and 
generally ab-n- ' '"""-nton and Arnold: on which Banersby 
wrote a sha. : . suggesting that he had already of- 

fered to fight Morris and now repeats the challenge: that 
Arnold will not notice snch a low fellow: — "were he dis- 
posed to resent andaeions and unprovoked insolenoe, there 
are a few braying asses of rank whom he would first 
chastise*':— but the captain has ordered one of his negro 
<i- "s to ' -■"- his antagonist. Mo- - _;un 

v: :,- _ genen^ _ :ive J^:aiast Arnold, ai- . ws 

with an address to Battersby. in which he says he does 
not believe the story of Arnold's offer of surrender be- 
cause he never heard it from any one else: and that if 
it were true, Arnold should have gone ofit without Clin- 
ton's knowledge, 

Morris now strove to get a meeting from Arnold while 
a friend looked after Battersby. "Captain Battersby." 
he gently observes. "I should have no objection to see 
killed by any other hand instead of my own. while there 
was any chance of General Arnold giving me the meet- 
ing." Voltmteers came to his aid against AMti-Tamketf 
(Captain Battersby): "I am your man." writes Mr. 
Thomas Hailing, "against Anti-Yankey. or any other 
rascally refugee whatsoever. 

ril figbt him, 
m beat him. 
m roast him. 
ni eat himP 



BENEDICT ARNOT,D. 515 

At last, a duel was arrangiHl. Major Staiiliopc (1joi<1 
ITarriiii^toii's l)r()tli('r) was the caiitain's second; but be- 
ing prevented I'roni acting, Governor Skene took liis |)hice. 
Captain Bailie acted for Morris. A reconciliation bow- 
ever intervened and the dispute was accommodated: ;ind 
since Arnold's courage at least was unquestionable, we 
must suppose there was some other reason i'or his jiot 
meeting his assailer. In truth- Morris's publication was 
in very bad taste. He says Bui'goyne remarked of tlu; 
dispute between himself and Battersby and its occasion: 
"that it was just like two gentlemen quarreling for a 
connnon ." 

More valuable by far, though not of less singular larity, 
is the RcDiiirks on the Travels of M. de Chasiellttx: Lon- 
don, Wilkie, 1787: 8vo. pp. ii. 80; — an anonymous work 
which I am more and moi-e convinced was written or di- 
rected by Arnold's own hand. The translator of Chas- 
tcllux had ])i'inted matters in his Notes peculiarly offen- 
sive to Arnold and ol' such a nature that ibc author would 
never have admitted many of them inio his own pages, 
severe though they be in theii' I'cfiections on the English 
and their recent accpiisition. All that is said, however, 
by the writer of the liemarks in relation to the business 
of West I'oiiii is ralluT in vindication of Arnold's con- 
duct than in explanation of its details: 

"From the Translator we gather that Ceneral y\i'nold 
received seven thousand pounds in the funds; and from 
the Author, that he was to deliver up West Point. The 
death of Major Andre is universally known; and the 
rank that lie bore of adjutanl-gcncral iti the British army, 
h'rom these inferences, adinitling llicir truth, what deduc- 
tions can we draw? Oould Aiiiold alone give u]) West 
Point? Would an adjutant-general have visited him for 
what he alone could have accomplished? Would he have 



516 APPENDIX. 

been hazarded for the completion of so small an object? 
Is there nothing in Arnold's asseverations? Gave he no 
reasons for his conduct ? He did. Much of this extraordi- 
nary event will doubtless be ever concealed : and probably 
little more than what has already transpired will he known 
to the present generation. Arnold's assertions, that 
America in general was satisfied with the offers of the 
British nation, that it was averse to the French, and the 
continuation of the war. were true. It has been before ob- 
served, that "Washington asserted, that he would never 
agree to independency ; and though the Congress decreed 
that all their votes should be styled unanimous, it is well 
known that more than once a single voice or two has de- 
cided upon their most important resolutions. To a certain 
length Galloway acceded to the American cause, and in 
England, people at different periods desisted from their 
support of America as she receded from her connections 
with this country; this did the great and wise earl of 
Chatham, the first statesman of the age. 

The argument is not whether this change of sentiment 
proceeded from patriotic principles, or sinister passions ; 
it is the fact that I insist on. In our own civil wars, Hyde 
and Essex, Falkland and Whitlock, and many others, fur- 
nished the precedent: and this conduct must arise from 
the nature of man. imperfect in himself, his judgments, 
and opinions : and actuated from events and effects orig- 
inating from so imperfect a source. Was it not so. how 
could a war ever be teiToinated ? A brave, but a divided 
people, under the influence of conscience, and a finn be- 
lief in justice of their cause, would fight to their mutual 
destruction, 'and darkness be the burier of the dead.' 
Histor}-, when it points out to us the calamities of civil 
wars, uniformly delineates their termination, not so much 
in the destruction of mankind, as in their change of 
opinion. Had Lambert escaped from his pursuers, and 



\ 



BENEDICT ARNOLD. 517 

the army revolted from Monk, what would liave been 
Monk's fate? And in what light would posterity consider 
his memory? A republican, and therefore unconstitu- 
tional party, at present detract from his reputation, but 
he is venerated by Englishmen in general, as the restorer 
of the peace of his eountiy. That general has been blamed 
for permitting the restoration of the King without com- 
pact : the time necessary for making such a free, general, 
and, English compact, would have ruined his measures; 
secrecy alone could give success to his arduous imdertak- 
ing. He trusted, and he trusted justly, that the spirit of 
the times would secure the liberty of the subject, against 
which it was visible the crown must contend in vain. 
Clarendon had wisdom sufficient to distinguish the 
momentary acclamations of all ranks of people, happy 
in the termination of their individual miseries, from the 
sober and collective voice of their judgment. If the house 
of Stuart, on the removal of that great man, forgot their 
own interests, and ungratefully invaded the liberties of 
the people, it certainly was contrary to the calculations 
of reason, and they lost the crown in consequence; the 
spirit of the people, as one man, rose up against them, 
and let it be remembered, the Revolution was effected with- 
out bloodshed. Had Arnold, and those who thought with 
him, given a severe blow, and without bloodshed, to Wash- 
ington's army ; had he broke the civil chains of the people, 
and restored the sword to their hands, had they accepted 
the more than independency which was offered to Amer- 
ica by Great Britain ; and had the empire by these means 
been restored to union, who would have enjoyed the bless- 
ings of this age, and been the favourite of posterity, the 
active, enterprising American Arnold, or the cool, design- 
ing, Frenchified Washington ? These terms are derived 
from the Marquis's Memoirs; his opinions, and the re- 



518 APPENDIX. 

joicinscs of the Aniericaus upou the failure of Arnold's 
attempt, establish its maguitiide. " 

In other places, the Remarks give some information of 
affairs that would be valuable according to our absolute 
certainty of the communicator. Of the American army 
he says that it was made up of all nations, and only kept 
efficient by the severest dis('ii>line and the cooperation of 
the civil authorities, which punished severely all who did 
not i)rofess devotion to America. The militia s]>read 
around the camj) at least served to intercept deserters 
and prevent marauds. Many of the generals are roughly 
handled; La Fayette, Sullivan, Stirling, and Greene 
among the ninnber. "Waj-ne has some ]iraise; "if he 
should ever read my account of the Marquis de la Fay- 
ette, he will enjoy it. and say it is true." Lee, Mifflin, and 
Gates are spoken of more kindly. Reed is spoken of with 
severity; and what are alleged to be particular facts in 
connection with the imputed defection that .Vrnold on his 
trial brought up against him are recited. Of Washing- 
ton the writer observes:— "I have no resentment to that 
general ; his virtues and his vices are now out of the ques- 
tion; and whether he continues a land-jobber in Vii-- 
ginia, or the president of Congress, is totally indifferent. 
The exposition of truth is all my design. Success animates 
a mercenary army; Mr. AVashiugton had no hold on this 
chain of union. The capture of Lord Cornwallis's army 
was the effect of joint operation and French artillery. 
The surprise of Washington at Brandywine and defeat 
at Germantown, have not added to his reputation ; and the 
terming his repulse at Monmouth a defeat of the British 
army, proved, that having assumed French politics, he 
was intoxicated with their manners. The Congress called 
it a victory, the army knew the term to be a 'dishonour- 
able gasconade.' " 



liENEDICT ARNOLD. 519 

Arnold's affairs could not have been bad in England, 
but they were not good to his wisli. In the s])i-ing of 
1785, he was so disappointed at not getting a hearing be- 
fore the Board on Lojalist Claims that he resolved to 
withdraw his suit and retire into the country. Iic:lor in 
the year, he proposed going into trade again. "General 
Arnold is gone out to America too," wrote Adams to 
Jay. "From this, some persons have conjectured that 
war is determined on, or at least thought not improbal)]e. 
He went to Halifax in a vessel of his own, with a cargo 
of his own, upon a trading voyage, as is given out. I'his 
I can scarcely believe. It would hardly be permitted a 
general officer to go upon such a trade. He said himself 
he had a young family to provide for, and could not bear 
an idle life. This is likely enough. I rather tliink then 
that he has obtained leave to go out and purchase himself 
a settlement in Nova Scotia or Canada, that he may be out 
of the way of feeling the neglect and comtempt in which 
he is held by not only the army, but the worUI in general." 

The same military spirit, the same intolerance of inac- 
tive subordination that marked his character in our ser- 
vice followed Arnold into that of the British. Great as 
were his crimes, he can neither be accused of a lack of per- 
sonal intrepidity, nor of a cringing subservience that 
prized slothful prosperity a])ove the hazards of the field. 
In 1780 an English writer, commenting on his general's 
neglecting or refusing to disturb our military arrange- 
ments, uses these words:— "General Arnold, in beseech- 
ing Clinton to march out and attack Washington and 
Rochambeau, and on his refusal offering to do it himself 
with 6000 or even 5000 men, must have ruined himself 
completely with Sir Henry. It would be much better now 
for General Arnold to be in London than at Xew York." 
It must not, however, be forgotten that his defection en- 
countered from many quarters as severe censure in Eng- 



520 APPENDIX. 

land as it had received iu America. To the samples of this 
opinion alreadj' cited I will add but one other, which is 
curious as showing how Andi'e was by some still styled 
St. Andre. 

arxold: or, a qvestiox answered. 

Our tron])s by Arnold thoroujrhly were bang'd. 
And poor St. Andre was by Arnold haug'd; 
To George a rebel, to the Congress traitor. 
Pray what can make the name of Arnold greater? 
By one bold treason, more to gain his ends. 
Let him betray his new adopted friends! 



No. II. 




THE CAPTORS. 

HERE has been for some years a controversy 
about the character and motives of the men 
who arrested Andre. On the one hand is the 
contemporaneous eulogj- bestowed on their 
conduct by "Washington, and the sense in which it has 
generally been regarded by the public. New York gave 
each of them a farm. Congress ordered silver med- 
als inscribed Fidelity and Vincit Amor Patriae to be made 
for Paulding, Williams, and Van Wart; and also voted 
each a yearly pension of two hundred silver dollars for 
life. On the other side is the assertion of several weighty 
evidences that tliey were marauders, whose object was 
simply spoil. 

On the L'ltli .January, 1817, Paulding's petition for an 
increased pension was debated in the House of Represent- 
atives. Tallmadge opposed the prayer earnestly, going 
with minuteness into the details of the event from which it 
arose. He said the ca]itors only brought their prisoner 



THE CAPTORS. 521 

in because they thought they would get more for his sur- 
render than for his release: that he fully believed in An- 
dre's assertions that their object was to rob him, and that 
they would have let him go if he could have satisfied their 
demands. They took off his boots in quest of plunder, 
not to detect treason ; and were, he said, men of that sus- 
picious class who passing between both armies were as 
often in one camp as the other; and whom he himself 
should xn-oliably have apprehended, as was always his 
custom, had he fallen on them. His wishes prevailed 
with the House, and the petition was rejected by a large 
majority: but out of doors his language was strongly 
criticized and his conduct condemned. Van Wart and 
Paulding came forth with affidavits declaring the imputa- 
tions untrue: and a sort of autobiography of Williams 
confirms the statement that it was no idea of the captors 
to negotiate with their prisoner. Van Wart swears he 
had not, nor did he believe his comrades had, any intent 
of plundering Andre while Paulding alleges they took 
evei-ything he had. The testimony on Smith's trial in 
1780 shows that the proposal of releasing Andre for 
money first came from Williams and was put a stop to by 
Paulding: but we may suppose the former to have been 
insincere in his proffer, though it was promptly accepted 
bj^ the captive. 

In support of Tallmadge's view, King, who had the 
earliest charge of Andre, suggests that the time and place 
where the arrest occurred made the character of the cap- 
tors questionable. "The truth is, to the imprudence of 
the man, and not to the patriotism of any one of them, 
is to be attributed the capture of Major Andre." Major 
Shaw too, Washington's aide, who was present in all the 
proceedings attendant on the discovery of the treason, 
calls them "militia, or rather a species of freebooters who 
live by the plunder they pick up between the lines." A 



522 APPENDIX, 

distinguished English frieud, whose father served at the 
time with Clinton, has favored me with what we may sup- 
pose was the opinion derived at New York from Andre's 
letters,— "I must frankly say that my father has rejjeat- 
edly told me he was taken by some marauders lying as 
was commonly the case, on the Neutral Ground for pil- 
lage. That thej' told him if he could make good his offers 
anywhere without going within the lines, they would free 
him— but on recent occasions young officers had made 
promises and had handed the delinquents over to the 
Provost-Marslial on arriving. This, and the magnitude 
of his offers, led them to decide on turning north in lieu 
of south:— nothing else." Thus it is established that 
what the captors deny was maintained by Andre himself 
and by well-informed officers of our army. Now the rep- 
utation of Tallmadge, King, and Shaw is just as good in 
our eyes as that of Paulding, Van Wart, and Williams : 
and it certainly was a great deal better in their own day. 
The only reason why their declarations do not weigh 
down the others is that they were not eye-witnesses of the 
scene. It is fair therefore to look further into the ante- 
cedents of the Captors. 

John Paulding their leader was a lusty youth, six feet 
high and just turned of manhood, and of active spirit. 
Twice had he already been taken to New York a prisoner,^ 
and each time escaped. He returned from his second 
captivity but four days before he stopped Andre. His 
grandfather Joseph Paulding was a tenant of the great 
landholder Philipse at the beginning of the war, and pro- 
fessing neutrality was not disturbed. His sons however 
are represented as Whigs ; though I take it that Joseph, 
the captor's father, was one of those who, April 11, 1775, 
protested their abhorrence of Congress and their devotion 
to "King and Constitution." The old man died: the 
farm was pillaged: the young men had nothing to do;. 



THE CAPTORS. 523; 

and on Paulding's second escape in the dress of a Ger.nan 
.lager that he got m New York, he joined this party ta 
waylay the road and intercept the returning cUboys. 
The act of legislature of 24th June, 1780, made it lawful 
for any man to seize for his own use cattle going to the 
enemy: under this it is said they were sanctioned in the r 

admitting a certain undisciplined wildness of youth it 
seems from his own statements that Paulding was in his 
propensities decidedly a Wliig. 

Isaac Van Wart in his old days most solemnly protested 

hat he never held unlawful intercourse with the nemy or 

V sited their camp. In opposition to this is the asser io^ 

of one of the Tory Pines of Pine's Bridge that he ""w 

tlld Tot 7" \f'1f- ^^^^^«— ' f-- l^e "had been 
told so by Van AVart himself." There is also an omi- 
nous comp amt preserved in Ohio among the family pap A 
of General Putnam. "Mrs. Hannah Sniffen sav X 
Gabrie Joseph, and Abraham Riquard,* David H nt 

S; o?';; "^^J' r ^^^^^^ Buningham, did, on^ 
night of the 2.th ult., take from Mr. James Sniffen an 
jnhabi ant of mite Plains, without civil or militfiv^r 
thoiity, three milch cows, which they have converted to 
their own private use. Crom Pond, July 9th ITSO 
Hannah Sniffen, in behalf of her father." 

ser^t^'l-^^'"-'^'''' *'"' "' ^"'^^^^^ ^" ^« know of him- he 
served for six months with Montgomery at St John's 
and was till 1779 in the militia of Westchestei: countv! 
He narrates the marauds he shared in while in this sei-;. 

his friends "worked for their board on jLnnucal^ 
and ,„ , ^^.^, ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^a 

Van Wart was his cousin: and twice in the summer thej^ 

* Requa. 



524 APPENDIX. 

made seizni-es of people and cattle. The Amerifan civil 
autliorities interfered in both instances and compelled 
restitution. Then came the adventure with Andre. A 
moiumient on the spot commemorates this last event: nor 
are honorable memorials wanting to the several graves 
of the three captors. 

Mr. Headley thinks Paulding alone was free from the 
charge of seeking to bargain with their prisoner. The 
public at large believe them pure alike, and honorable. 
I cannot for my own part but confess that there was at 
least colorable ground for the conclusion of Tallmadge; 
but the encouragement of Washington and Congress and 
their own solemn affidavits are two serious obstacles to 
an implicit faith in its truth.* 



No. III. 



VERSES CONNECTED WITH ANDRE'S EXECU- 
TION. 




IIETHER or not Andre composed a sort of fare- 
well song before he died, it is certain he has 
had the reputation of doing so. The doughty 
Sergeant Lamb, of the Fusiliers, in his Jour- 
nal of the American War (p. 338), gives a hjonn of nine 
verses as having been written bj' Andre in his coutine- 
ment.** The opening stanza will I fancy be sufficient: 

Hail, sovereign love, which first began 
The scheme to rescue fallen man! 
Hail matchless, free, eternal grace 
"^liich gave my soul a hiding place ! 

* See the Crisis of the Revolution for an interesting statement 
about Van Wart and Williams. 

** It was really written by Eev. Jehoaida Brewer (1752-1817), of 
England. 



VEKSES CONNECTED WITH ANDRE 's EXECUTION. 525 

The jiliilosopher of the kitchen, the accomplished Brillat- 
Savarin, evidently did not refer to this piece in his Phi/s- 
iologie du Gout. In October, 1794, he visited his friend 
Mr. Bulow,* a Revolutionary officer at Hartford, Con- 
necticut; and was overjoyed at killing "une dinde 
sauvage." After the toils of the chase were ended, says 
he:— "Pour reposer la conversation, M. Bulow disait de 
temps a autre a sa fiUe ainee: 'Maria! give us a song.' 
Et elle nous chanta sans se faii'e prier, et avec un embar- 
ras charmant, la chanson nationale Yanl-ee chidden la com- 
plainte de la reine Marie et eelle du major Andre, qui sont 
tout a fait populaires en ee pays." The words and music 
of these last two pieces are given in The American Musi- 
cal Miscellany: Northampton, 1798. I find Andre's 
Lament also in a large collection of broadsides, made by 
the late Isaiah Thomas of Worcester and preserved in 
the American Antiquarian Society. It is entitled— "Ma- 
jor Andre : written while he was a prisoner in the Ameri- 
can camp;" and was "printed by Nathaniel Coverly, Jr.,, 
Milk-street, corner Theatre- Alley, Boston." A very 
rude and unmeaning woodcut adorns or disfigures the 
head of the sheet: and the lines are given here less as 
Andre's own than as a matter of curiosity: 

Ah, Delia! see the fatal liour! farewell, my soul's delight. 
But how can wretched Damon live, thus banish'd from thy sight? 
To my fond heart no rival joy supplies the loss of thee; 
But who can tell if thou, ray dear, will e'er rememljer me? 

Yet while ray restk^ss, wand'ring tho'ts pursue their lost repose,. 
Unwearied raay they trace the path where'er my Delia goes; 
Forever Damon sliall be there attendant still on thee. 
But who can tell cfr. 

Alone, thro' unfrequented wilds, with pensive steps I rove, 
I ask the rocks, I ask the trees, where dwells my distant love? 
The silent eve, the rosy morn, my constant searches see. 
But who can tell, c(-o. 

* Proljahly Aaron Barlow, brother of Joel. — [Ed.] 



526 APPENDIX. 

Oft ni review the smiling scenes, each fav'rite brook and tree. 
Where gaily pass'd those happy hours, those hours 1 pass'd with 

thee. 
What painful, fond memorials rise from every place I see! 
Ah ! who can tell, i&c. 

How many rival votaries soon their soft address shall move; 
Surround thee in thy new abode, and tempt thy soul to Love: 
Ah, who can tell what sighing crowds their tender homage pay; 
Ah, who can tell, cfr. 

Think, Delia, with how deep a wound the sweetly painful dart, 
"Which thy remembrance leaves behind has pierc'd a hopeless heart: 
Think on this fatal, sad adieu, which severs me from thee: 
Ah, who can tell, tfr. 

How can I speak the last farewell; what cares distress my mind; 
How can 1 go to realms of bliss and leave my love behind! 
When Angels wing me to the skies I'd fain return to thee: 
But who can tell, &c. 

The concluding verse is not to be found in the version 
of the Repertory. 

What Andre may have neglected himself, other hands 
supplied. The Liieranj MiscelUuiy (Stourport: ,T. Nich- 
olson; 1812), vol. vii., declares the lines to Delia begin- 
ning "Return, enraptured hours" were composed in his 
imprisonment. Others formed his praises into a Glee, 
wherewith to compose the souls of aldermen at corpora- 
tion feasts. 

A 4 YOC. PAXTON. 

(Hobler's Glees, as suug at the Crown and Anchor Tavern- 
London, 1704.) 

Eound the hapless Andre's urn 

lie the cypress foliage spread; 
Fragrant spice profusely burn. 

Honours grateful to the dead: 
Let a soldier's manly form 

Guard the vase his ashes bears; 
Truth, in living sorrow warm, 

Pav a niournin? nation's tears. 



VERSES CONNECTED WITH ANDRE 's EXECUTION. 527 

Fame, his praise upon thy wing. 
Through the world dispersing tell; 

In the service of his King, 
In his Country's cause he fell ! 

But it was his friend Miss Seward who at greatest 
length and witli most applause brought Poetry to lament 
Andre's fate. From the beginning to the end this lady 
was au coiirant as to the army in America; and I have 
heard that from her Scott got the premises of The Tap- 
estried Chamber. She had for several years been accus- 
tomed to pour fortli her verses among a party of poets of 
quality who thus amused themselves under the auspices 
of Lady Miller, and whose bantlings were printed in four 
volumes in 1781 as Poetical Amusements at a Villa near 
Bath. Walpole so inimitably describes the whole as- 
sembly that we will trespass a little to give their account 
in his own words:— "You must know, Madam that near 
Bath is erected a new Parnassus, composed of three 
laurels, a myrtle-tree, a weeping-willow, and a view of the 
Avon, which has been new-christened Helicon. Ten years 
ago there lived a Madam Riggs, an old rough humourist 
who passed for a wit; her daughter, who passed for 
nothing, married to a Captain Miller, full of good-natured 
officiousness. These good folks were friends of Miss 
Rich, who carried me to dine with them at Batheaston, 
now Pindus. They caught a little of what was then called 
taste, built and planted, and begot children, till the whole 
caravan were forced to go abroad to retrieve. Alas! 
Mrs. Miller is returned a beauty, a genius, a Sappho, a 
tenth Muse, as romantic as Mademoiselle Scuderi, and as 
unsophisticated as Mrs. Vesey. The Captain's fingers 
are loaded with cameos, his tongue runs over with virtu, 
and that both may contribute to the improvement of their 
own country, they have introduced bouts-rimes as a 
new discovery. They hold a Parnassus-fair every Thurs- 



528 APPENDIX. 

day, give out liiyiues aud themes, and all the flux of 
quality at Bath contend for the prizes. A Koman vase 
dressed with pink ribbons and myrtle receives the poetry, 
which is drawn out every festival ; six judges of these 
OljTnpic games retire and select the brightest composi- 
tions, which the respective successful acknowledge, kneel 
to Mrs. Calliope Miller, kiss her fair hand, and are 

crowned by it with myrtle, with 1 don't know what. 

You may think this is fiction, or exaggeration. Be dumb, 
unbelievers! The collection is printed, published.— Yes, 
on my faith, there are bouts-rimes on a buttered muffin, 
made by her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland ; re- 
ceipts to make them by Corydon the venerable, alias 
George Pitt; others very pretty by Lord Palmerston; 
some by Lord Carlisle ; many by ^Irs. Miller herself, that 
have no fault but wanting metre ; and immortality prom- 
ised to her without end or measure. In short, since folly 
which never ripens to madness but in this hot climate, ran 
distracted, there never was anything so entertaining or 
so dull— for you cannot read so long as I have been 
telling." 

Lender such friendly auspices Miss Seward wrote her 
Monody on Andre, a poem of considerable merit, which 
has possessed greater popularity than any other of her 
writings and has gone through numerous editions. Its 
objurgations of Washington were regarded as just cen- 
sure by many of her admirers, who considered his reputa- 
tion snuffed out like a candle by Miss, Seward's eloquence : 

Thy pen, more jiotent than Ithuriel's spear 
Strips from the ruthless Chief his corselet's pride, 
Aud shews his heart of Xero's colour dy"d. 

And indeed she herself esteemed it highly. To com- 
memorate the death of Lady Miller, she invoked the same 
Muse that had befriended her:— 



VERSES CONNECTED WITH ANDRE 's EXECUTION. 529 

Ye, who essay'd to weave the golden thread. 
And gem with flow'rs the woof of high applause 
The pious veil o'er shroudless Andre spread. 
O'er Andre, murdor'd in his country's cause. 

That his memory might rest in literature like Garrick 
in the picture between the Tragic and the Comic Muse, 
James Smith has added his mite to Miss Seward's labors, 
in a pretended volume of letters from America called 
Milk and Honey, or the Land of Promise: Letter vii. ; 
Mr. Eiehard Barrow to Mr. Robert Briggs. 

— Boh, Jonathan's queer: he is mizzled a ration, 
He does not half-stomach a late exhumation; 
Some culls, here, have taken to grubbing the clay 
That tucks up the body of Major Andre. 
With you resurrectionists, that is not very 
Unusual, who dig up as fast as you bury. 
And charge iron coffins the devil's own fee — 
(Lord Stowell there buried the poor patentee,) 
But here, Bob, the f/ahies have not come to that. 
Would you fancy it? Jonathan's yet such a flat 
As to think, when a corpse has been waked by a train 
Of mourners, 'tis wicked to wake it again. 

Methinks you're for asking me who Andre was? 

(Book-learning and you. Bob, ain't cronies, that's pes.) 

I'll tell you, Andre, urged by arguments weighty, 

Went out to New York Anno Domini "80. 

He quitted the land of his fathers to bleed 

In war, all along of his love for Miss Sneyd; 

But, finding his name not enroll'd in a high line 

Of rank for promotion, he took to the Spy-line. 

He sew'd in his stockings a letter from Arnold : 

A sentinel naWd it — why didn't the darn hold? 

Or why, when he stiteh'd it up, didn't he put 

The letter between his sole-leather and foot? 

By mashing it, then, he had 'scaped all disaster, 

As Pipes mash'd the letter of Pickle, his master. 

Within the lines taken, a prisoner brought off. 

They troubled him with a line more than he thought of; 

For, finding the young man's despatches not trim, 

To shorten my storj'. Bob, they despatch'd him. 

34 



530 APPENDIX. 

Ho long might have slept with the ci-devant crew. 

As soundly as heix other buried men do; 

But fashion, as somebody says on the stage, 

In words and in periwigs will have her rage. 

The notion of bringing dead people away 

Began upon Paine, and went on to Andre; 

The Yankees thought Cobbctt was digging for dibs, 

But when out he trundled a thighbone and ribs. 

They did not half-like it; and cried with a groan, 

"Since poor Tom's a-cold. why not leave him alone?" 

American writers have also made the story their fic- 
titious tlieme. The tragedy of Arnold, that of Andre, 
and the verses of Mr. Willis and Mr. ]\Iiller have at va- 
rious times been given to the pu])lie. 



No. IV. 




COLONEL BENJAMIN TALLMADGE TO GENERAL 

HEATH. 

[From the Heath MSS.] 
JNE'S BRIDGE, Oct. 10th, 1780. -Dear Gener- 
al : Since my return from Head Quarters a few 
days since, I have been honored with your 
agreeable favor of the 21st ult. with its en- 
closed from Mr. Broome, as also another of the 30th ult. 
I am much oljliged to you for your kind attention in for- 
warding my letters to Mr. Broome as well as his Returns 
to me. 

Before this reaches you, the information of Major An- 
dre's execution must undoubtedly have been received. 
Thro' the course of his Tryal and Confinement (during 
which I had the charge of him a great jiart of the time) 
he behaved with that fortitude wliich did him great honor. 
He made every confession to the Court which was neces- 
sary to convict him of being a Sjiy, but said nothing of 



COLONEL TALLMADGE TO GENERAL HEATPI. 531 

his accomplices. During his confinement I l^ecame inti- 
mately acquainted with him; and I must say (nor am 1 
alone in the opinion) that he was one of the most accom- 
plished young gentlemen I ever was acquainted with. 
Such ease and affability of manners, polite and genteel 
deportment, added to an enlarged understanding, made 
him the idol of General Clinton and the B. army. On 
the day of his execution he was most elegantly dressed in 
his full regimentals, and marched to the destined ground 
with as much ease and cheerfulness of countenance as if 
he had been going to an Assembly room. Tho' his fate 
was just, yet to see so promising a youth brought to the 
gallows drew a tear from almost every spectator. He 
seemed, while with me, to be almost unmindful of his fate, 
and only regretted his disappointment. 

Since Arnold has been at New York, he has flung into 
the Provost many of our friends whom he will have pun- 
ished if possible. I fear it will injure the chains of our 
intelligence, at least for a little time, till the present tu- 
mult is over. I am happy that he does not know even a 
single link in my chain. His Excellency General Wash- 
ington has undoubtedly given you the particulars of the 
whole hellish plot, which was laid to have nearly over- 
thrown the liberties of this country. So providential, I 
had almost said miraculous a detection of such deep-laid 
villainy can hardly be found in the history of any people. 

Joshua Smith, an accomplice with Arnold, was under 
arrest when I left Head Quarters a few days since, and 
will doubtless be punished capitally. 

Oct. 11th.— 1 have this moment received information 
from my agents at New York, but no letters. The con- 
duct of that infamous Arnold has been such since his ar- 
rival at New York that our friends, who were not even 
suspected, are too much agitated at the present juncture 



532 APPENDIX. 

to favor with intelligence as usual. 1 hope in a little time 
the storm will blow over. I have two accounts from New 
York, but neither thro' my old channel; one of which is 
that the enemy have embarked a considerable body of 
troops and were put to sea; another that their embark- 
ation goes on very slowly. 

The letter herewith sent please to forward to Mr. 
Broome. "With com])liraents to the gentlemen of your 
family, I am, &c. 

P. S. His Excellency General Washington, with the 
Light Infantry, the Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Mas- 
sachusetts Lines, has moved lower down New Jersey, near 
Posaick falls. General Greene with the New Jersey, New 
York and New Hampshire Lines, has gone to West Point. 

MISS SEWARD'S MONODY. 

ON THE DEATH OF MAJOR ANDRE. 

Oh, Washington! I thought thee great and good, 

Nor knew thy Nero-thirst for guiltless blood ; 

Severe to use the power that fortune gave. 

Thou cool, determined murderer of the brave ; 

Lost to each fairer virtue, that inspii-es 

The genuine fervor of the patriot fires ; 

And you, the base abettors of the doom 

That sunk his blooming honors to the tomb, 

The opprobrious tomb your hardened hearts decreed, 

TMiile all he asked was as the brave to bleed ; 

No other boon the glorious youth implored 

Save the cold mercy of the warrior's sword; 

0, dark and pitiless! your mission's hate 

O'erwhelmed the hero in the ruffian's fate; 

Drapt with the felon-cord the rosy breath 

And venom 'd with disgrace the darts of death. 

Eemorseless Washington! the day shall come 



MISS Seward's monody. 533 

Of deep repentance for the barb'rous doom, 

Wlien injured Andre's memory sliall inspire 

A kindling army with resistless fire; 

Each falchion sharpen that the Britons wield, 

And lead the fiercest lion to the field; 

Then when each hope of thine shall set in night, 

When dubious dread and unavailing flight 

Impel thy host, thy guilt-upbraided soul 

Shall wish imtouehed the sacred life thou stole; 

And when thy heart appalled and vamiuished pride 

Shall vainly ask the mercy thou denied 

With horror shalt thou meet the fate thou gave, 

Nor pity gild the darkness of thy grave; 

For infamy, with livid hand, shall shed 

Eternal mildew on thy ruthless head ; 

Less cruel far than thou on Ilium's plain 

Achilles, raging for Patroclus slain; 

When hapless Priam bends the aged knee 

To deprecate the victor's dire decree. 

The generous Greek in melting pity spares 

The lifeless Hector to his father's prayers. 

Fierce as he was— 'tis cowards only know 

Persisting vengeance o'er a fallen foe. 

But no entreaty wakes the soft remorse. 

Oh, murdered Andre, for thy sacred corse; 

Vain were an army, vain its leader's sighs. 

Damp in the earth on Hudson's shore it lies 

Unshrouded, welters in the wintry stonn. 

And gluts the riot of the Tappan worm ; 

But oh! its dust like Abel's blood shall rise. 

And call for Justice from the angry skies. 

What though the tyrants, with malignant pride. 

To thy pale corse each decent rite denied ; 

Thy graceful limbs in no kind covert laid. 

Nor with the Christian recjuiem soothed thy shade; 



534 APPENDIX. 

Yet on thy grass-green bier soft April showers 

Shall earlier wake the sweet spontaneous flowers. 

Bid the blue hare-bell and the snow-drop there 

Hang their cold cup, and drop the pearly tear; 

And oft at pensive eve's ambiguous gloom, 

Imperial Honor bending o 'er thy tomb, 

With solemn strains shall lull thy deep repose, 

And with his deathless laurels shade thy brow. 

Lamented youth ! while with inverted spear 

The British legions pour the indignant tear, 

Round the drapt arm the funeral-scarf entwine 

And in their heart's deep core thy worth enshrine, 

AYhile my w^eak muse, in fond attempt and vain 

But feebly pours a perishable strain. 

Oh! ye distinguished few, whose glorious lays 

Bright Phoebus kindles with his purest rays, 

Snatch from its radiant source the living fire, 

And light with vestal flame your Andre's funeral pyre.* 

* Mr. Charles B. Carlisle in Potters American ^fonthh/, April. 
187'), says: "This envenomed phillipie was published in n89, and 
at tliat time so agreeably coincided with English prejudices and 
feelings that it spread its shafts for nearly thirty years. At that 
time Miss Seward"s literary works were re-published, and we find 
a note appended by her which is a contradiction of the spirit of the 
Monody — but still conveys a partial censure of Washington, and it 
remained for licr to make a full recantation in her Letters. When 
Sir Walter Scott edited her Poetical Worls he omitted any mention 
of these — and it was reserved for Edmund Wigley, Esq., to place 
them before the public. In a letter addressed to the celebrated 
Ladies of the Vale,* in 1793 she refers to a letter from Washington 
to herself on tlie subject, and says she was filled with contrition 
for the rush injustice of her words." — [Ed.] 

(*]\[iss Butler and Miss Ponsonby.) 



POEMS Ax\I) BALLADS IJKLATING TO MAJOJi ANDRE. 



1. Andre. By MacDon.kl Clarke ((he ",nad poef). The Go.dp. 

(Gray & Bunce, N. Y., 1823.) 

2. Andre. Charles W. Upham. The Bowdoin Poels. Joseph 

Griffiu, Brunswick, Me., 1840. 

3. Andre. John Anketell. Ce>ile>!nial Souvenir. Tarrvlown 

N. Y., 1881. 

4. Andre's Request to Washinoton. N. 1'. Willis. Poems. 

5. Arnold, and other I'oems. .T.R.Orion. Parlrid^^e & Brittan, 

fi. Arnold's^ Treason. TI. W. Uurlhert. Life of Frank Forrester. 
^ ol. IL 0. Judd & Co., N. Y., 188y. 

7. At tlu. Andre Monument. Minna Irving. Sunnyside Press 

i arrytown, N. Y., 1880. 

8. Brave Paulding and the Spy. Songs and Ballads of Am Revo 

(F. Moore), p. 310. 
!». British JJero in Captivity, The.— Pu(hlifonil>e, 4to 1783 

10. Coniine.noration of the Capture of Andre. "Elfr'ide " Bol- 

ton s Weskhesler Comdy, 2nd Edition, N. Y 1881 

11. David \Villian,s. Alfred B. Street. Centennial Celebrations 

of .Stale of N. Y. A. C. Ik-ach, Albany, 1879 

12. I<reneh Volunteer in War of Independence. Pontgibaud (De. 

Mores). N. Y., 1898. 

13. His Captors to Andre. G. W. Miller 

14. Incident of Andre's Capture, An. John Banvard N y 

Com' I Advertiser, Sept., 1880. 
lo. Journal, &c., during American War. R. Lamb. Dublin 
1809. Page 338. ' 

16. Lines on Andre and His Captors. Anonymous 

17. Major Andre and Arnold's Treason. Am. BiUiopolist N Y 

Vol. IV., p. 32. /- > • ; 

18. Major Andre's Ride. Thos. H. Farnham. Sunnyside Press 

Tarrytown, N. Y., Feb. 23, 1889. 



536 DKAMAS RELATING TO MAJOR ANDRE. 

19. Memoires. Count <le ^Mores. Paris, 1828. (Some French 

verses.) 

20. On Sir Ilenrv Clinton's Eecall. Anonymous. 

21. Prophecy of Andre (1780). . London, 1782. 

22. Paulding-, the Patriot. Minna Irving {Songs of a Ilaunled 

Heart). Belford, Clark & Co., N. Y., 1888. 

23. Remembrance. Miss Seward, 1809. (Refers to Andre and 

Honora Sneyd.) 

24. Sergeant Champe. Anonymous. N. Y., ISSfi. {Songs and 

Ballads of .Un. Bevo. F. Moore, N. Y., 1875.) 

25. Two Spies. P.cnson J. Lossing. N. Y., 188(). 

26. West Point, ilargaretta A'. Faugeres. 

27. West Point. Leon del Monte. Robt. Clarke & Co., Cincin- 

nati. 1890. 



DRAMAS RELATING TO MAJOR ANDRE. 



1. Andre, a Tragedy. William Dunlap. London, 1799. 

2. Andre, a Tragedy. W. W. Lord. C. Scribner, N. Y., 1852. 

3. Andre, a Tragedy. Dr. Elihu II. Smith (said to l>e) 

1798. 

4. Arnold, a Tragedy. Horatio Hubbell. Philadelphia, 1847. 

5. Arnold and Andre. George H. Calvert. , 1840. 

6. Highland Treason, The. Elihn G. Holland, Essays. Phil- 

lips, Sampson & Co., Boston, 1802. 

7. Washington, a Drama. Ingersoll Lockwood. N. Y., 1875. 

8. Washington, a Drama. Martin F. Tupper. James Martin, 

N. Y., 1876. 



^,^ 



ADDENDA. 

By a singular error General James Irvine is mentioned on page 268 
as concerned in tlie attaels on the Bull's Ferry block-house; the note 
should read William Irvine, who at the time commanded the Second 
Pennsylvania regiment. 

I am indebted to Porter P. Cope, Esq , of Philadelphia, great-grand- 
son of Caleb Cope of Lancaster, for reference to the introductory note 
to the AndrS letters printed in John Jay Smith's American Historical 
and Literary Curiosities (186U). Here it is pointed out that the only 
reason Caleb Cope did not accept Andr6'8 offer to take his son John to 
England, was that the Lancaster Friends' Meeting diiiapproved of the 
plan after having considered it, according to the Friends' custom. 

It is an interesting speculation as to what changes in our history 
might have occurred had Andrfi sold his commission, as he then desired 
to, returned to England, and hence never met Arnold. The decision 
of the Friends' Meeting had greater consequences than any of its mem- 
bers could have foreseen. 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Andre, David, 10 

" Johann, 2 

" Ernest, q 

" William Lewis, 10 458-9 

" Louisa, 10, 458 

" Mary, 10, 458 

" Anne, 10 

" Nicholas, St o.q 

" Major. Journal lOi) 

" " Memorial, 109 

" Ghost of, 44^ 204 

" His "Dream," 338-42 

" At Charleston, 252-5 

" At Philadelphia, ". . .'.'.'.'.'.'. 49 

And the boj' prisoner, 260-1 

Meets Arnold, 323-337 

" Journey towards New York, 337-353 

" Capture 353-00 

" Detention, 3U1-390 

" Trial 390-400 

" Execution, 441-450 

" Will, ::::::. .453.3 

" Body removed to England, 459-62 

" Dream of "Miss H. B.," 456-7 

" Monument in Westminster Abbey, 462-3 

" Letters to Washington, 365, 438 

Arnold, Major Benedict. Corespondence with Clin- 

. ton, 246, 279, 293, 386 

Considerations on his sentence, 465-501 

" In England, 510, 519 

" And Robinson 303, 305 

" Parting with his wife, 370 

Letter to Washington, 430 

" Letter (Marbois), Appendix No. 1 

, ., " Mrs., 369-70, 509-10 

Adams, John, 152 

" Samuel, 72 

Abercromby, '.V.'.16'3^ 499 

Agnew, General, 12g 



53S IXDEX. 

Pa.ce. 

Arbuthiiot. Admiral C4;i-.'S(> 

Allen, Lieut. Solomon Mi'i 

" Ethan SO. 154 

Abbot, Benjamin 443 

"Balilwin" account 445-4S 

Battcrsbv, Captain Jamos: 513-14 

Branilynine 119-20 

Besancon. Peter 443 

Balfour, Major Nisbet, 1-38 

Birch, Lieut. Col IGl 

Barren Hill, i;9-lS-2 

Battle of the Kegs 17(i 

Bache. Mrs, 203 

Bull's Ferry block-house, 2(51-2 

Boyd, Captain Ebenezer, 341 

Bowman, Captain Samuel 358, 443 

Boston and Massachusetts in 1TT4 61-75 

Board of General Officers, 390-400 

Ballantine. Hamilton, 255 

Burke. Edmund. 480-81 

Byron. Admiral 224-5 

Bronson. Dr. Isaac, 3t!7. 449 

Burnet, Major Kobert 413. 41(i 

Buchanan. James (Consul), 4(53 

Brillat-Savarin, 525 

Beekman. Mrs. Cornelia 337 

Carleton, Sir Guy, 77. 79, 81 

Carnes, John, 495 

Cornwallis. Lord, 472-(> 

Cooper, Feuimore, 371! 

'•Cow-Chace," 264-278 

Chambly, Fort, 79, 81, 85, 86 

Chastellux, '-Remarks on," 515-18 

Cope, Caleb 96-98. 103-5 

Chestnut Hill, 147 

Carlisle, Pa., 100 

Cruaer. Henry 52 

Chew, ^liss, 246 

Chew's House, 128 

Cunningham, Mr.. 44-5 

" Provost ^Marshal, 154-5 



INDEX. 539. 

Pago. 
Clinton, Sir llem-y, ...Il'^-IG, 2-il-22[, 308, ;S,S(;, -US, 432, 454, 

u 1, , 458,407-72 

« ^°'-t' ••• 114-115 

(lOncral .lames, ,|j^,| 

Captors, TIr. " ' ' ' ' 'Ai-iKindix' No. 2 

Conj^rress at Pliihidelpliia, 4i)-51, ,55-(; 

C'ol(|ulioini hrotliurs, " ;{|rj, 

Crewe, Major, ............'.'.'.. ](;\ 

Cathcart, Lord, \i;:]-.\ 

Cadwiiladcr, General ' 177-8 

Ji'';Y''''l""' ^'"^^ «'■' '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. !250-255 

Caldwell, Kev. James, 273 

Cedars, The, '.■.■■.■.■.■.■.■;.■. 100- 101 

Coe, John, .jgg 

Crosbie, Lieut. Col., .413 440 

Day, Thomas, 22 34,3^; 

Darwin, Erasmus, ..."'.. 13 

DeFleury, Count Louis, | ] 333 

Despard, Lieut. John, oj ' 93.9 

Demarest, ilev. Joiui, ' '459 

Donop Count '.'.■■■.■.■.■.■. ■.■.■.■■. 141-144 

Darraeli, Lydia ^43 

DiiPortail, Ceneral, -^y^ 

l^urang, .......'..'.'.'.'.'.['. 171 

Dut'oudray, , ic 

Draper, Sir William, , 284 

D'Kstaing . .' ; .' ." ■ ; .'^isJ^iV, 219 

J )uke of 1 ork, ^r^(y 

Dumas, Count Mathieu, 473 

Dobbs' Ferry, 2!J5-G 305-r 

Dean, John, '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. ."'sol d secj. 

Edgeworth, ilichard Lovell, 12 32-34 

Erskine, Sir William, V.'.'. IG2', 182 

Egg Harbor, 22q 

Elliot, Lieul. (!ov. Andrew, 432 

Easton, Col., 80 

Fort Montgomery, 114-115 

" Clinton, ..lU-Ury 

" La Fayette, 244-5 

Franks, Major David S., 79 379 

" Eebecea, '. V. V. '.'.'.'. '. . .' iss 



540 INDEX. 

Page. 

Gage, General 64, 65, 66. 68, 70 

■Grey, General, 110, 111 

Grei/liiiund schooner, 4"^S-39 

Germantown, 125-6 

Grant, Colonel, 52 

" Capt. Colquhoun 493-4 

Gliost of Andro (Phila.) 204 

Gordon, Lord Cosmo 20(i, 277 

Gadsden, Lieut. Gov. C, 235-6, 426 

Greene, General, 281, 424-6, 476-8 

" " liis proclamation, 385 

Glover, General, 485 

Gardiner's Island, 105-6 

Hale, Xathan 384, 398 

Hamilton, Alexander, 373-4, 401, 403, 408-9, 416 

Harris. Lord 70 

Hand. General, 486 

Hoo^land, Captain 378 

Huijhes, Captain John. 442 

Howe, General Sir William, 106, 151-8 

" ■ Eobert, 226, 481 

and Gadsden (Andre's poem), 225-7 

Hammond, Staals, 349 

Huntinijtou, General 486 

Hele, Lieutenant, . 497 

Indians. Stockbrid.se 73, 74 

Hvine, General James, 147, 442 

Jackson, ^lajor William 402 

Jameson. Colonel John, 347. 3(>2-3 

Justice of Andre"s Sentence, 465-501 

Knox, General, : 92-3, 375, 484 

Knvphausen, General, 426 

Ki|'rs Mouse 298-99 

K ing's Ferrv 338-340 

Kinjr, Lieut. Joshua, 356-7, 364, 378 

Kempe, Attorney-General, 419 

Livingston, James, 85, 302, 326-7, 371 

Governor, 277 

Miss Susanna 277 



INDEX, 541 

Page. 

JjOg-book of Uic Vulture, 320-9 

Lancaster, Pa., 93 

Lee, Gen. Charles, ] 07 

" Henry, '.'.'.' .2CA, 420, 501 

Luzerne, M. do, 308 

Lacey, General John ] 7<) 

Lafayette, ;{0;3, .^(nS, .'570, .3!)0. 414, 449, 480, 483 

Lamb, Col. John, 3O2 374 

Larvey, J;inies 370-73 

Laiininco, Col. John, 3();> 

Tjiiurens, John, ,] 10 

Laune, Peter, VlO(i, 417, 1.11 

]j0cker, Frederick, 4(;3 405 

Martha's Vineyard, 210 

Marbois, .290-7,' 308-9 

Mischianza, 183-201 

poems, by Andre, 197-200 

Montgomery, General, 83, 85, 90, 459 

I'^rt, 114 

Slontagu, Admiral, 72 

Morris, Gouverneur r^<) 

,, " R> ::::;::;;;:;5i3-i4 

Monmoutli, Battle of, 209-213 

Aliller, Lady, 527-8 

Monody, by Miss Seward, 532-4 

McLane, Allan, ]2g 

MacKinnon, 4f;5 

New York, British in, 239 257-9 

" " Society in, 234-37 

Newport, 215-217 

New Bedford, yjf; 

Ogden, Captain Aaron, 410-13 

Otis, James, (j2 

Parsons, General, 433 

Paulding, John, 351 c< saq. 

Paoli Massacre, 122-3 

Pine's Bridge, 343-4 

Putnam, Israel, 399 

Proctor, Colonel, 264 

Preston, Major, 83, 87 

Philadelphia, Capture of, 123-4 



542 INDEX. 

Paga. 

Philadelphia, Fortified 130-33 

Society in, 132-3G 

Occupation of, 137-140, 149-150, loO-lT!) 

Evacuated, 202-206 

Paterson, General, 486 

Palmer, Xathan (spy), 399 

Pennsylvania Packet, 450 

Proloirue spoken by Andre, 173, 232 

Eamsev, Mrs 98 

Robinson, Beverly, 294, 301, 307, 311-12, 3-?0-22, 373 

House," 294 

Ped liank, 142-147 

"Phode Island"' (Andre's poem), 217-lS 

Eivington, James, 263 

Eodnev, Admiral, 307 

Pobertson, General, 406, 424-26 

Pochambeau, 426 

Peynolds, Enos, 449 

RaVdon, Lord, 248-9, 476, 500 

Eomer, James, 351 

Eomilly, 465 

Schuyler, General, 82-3, 95, 380 

Seward, Anna, 11, 12, 16, 18-22, et seq., 91, 439 

" " her Monody on Andre, 532-4 

Steuben, Baron, ". 481-3 

Scammell, Colonel A., 444 

Snevd, Honora 13-27, 31-36. 39-40 

Shippen Edward, 94, 168 

See, Isaac, 351 

Sargent, (Captain, 160 

Stirling, Lord, 478-9 

Stopford. Major, 84 

Simcoe, Col. J. G., 249, 420, 454, 474 

St. Johns, 83. 86-7 

St. Clair, General, 380, 479 

Smith, Joshua Hett, 93, 313-326, 337-44, 379 

" Colonel W. S., 452-453 

" Chief Justice William 418-19 

" Captain Ebenezer, 417, 442 

Shieldon, Col. E., 293, 306 

Stony Point, 244-5 

Stariv, General, 487 



INDEX. 



543 



Page. 

Suthprlaiul, Captain A 308, 311, 313 

Letter to Clinton, 435-7 

Smith, James, 531) 

Tarleton, Lieut. Col., 104-06 

Tappan, 3110-400 

Old, ■-'•-'0 

Ticonderoga, 80, 88 

Thaclier, Dr. James 449 

Theatre, in Philadelphia, 109-175 

" Xew York 231-34 

Tarrytown, 351 

Tallmadge, Major, 290, 358, 302-3, 383-4, 414 

" " warns Andre of fate, 384 

" " to Heath, Appendi.\ No. 4 

Tomlinson, Ensign Jabez H., 41 

Trumbull, Colonel John, 455 

Taylor, Daniel, 484 

Thome, Stevenson and Jesse, 350 

Van AVart, Isaac 351 d seq. 

Van Dyke, Captain John, 442 

Van Sehaaek, Peter, 459 

Verses on Andre's Execution, Appendix No. 3 

Vulture, sloop of war, 301, 305, 320, 372 

Log-book of, 326-9 

Washington, 302-4, 307-8, 374, 378, 389-90, 400, 409-10, 449 

Wolfe's Song, 300 

Wooster, General, 84 

Whitemarsh, 147-8 

Wayne, General 442 

Witherspoon, Rev. Dr., 262 

Westchester County, condition of, 345-9 

Wharton, Mr., ..".'. 184 

Witman, Lieut. W., 127 

Webb, Colonel S. B., 350 

AVilliams. Major, 101 

'•' ' DaVid 351 et seq. 

West Point 331 et seq. 

" " plans of, given Andre, 333-6 

Williams, Abraham, 351 

Walpole, Horace, 527-8 

"Yankee Doodle's Expedition," 217-218 

Yerks, John, 351 



KEY TO MAP OF 



ANDRE'S ROUTE 



EXPLANATION OF THE MAP. 



This map having been made to accompany my Crisis of the 
Eevoluhon, the various numbers printed on it at different 
points refer to various incidents or places not mentioned, oi- 
slightly so, in the present work. I have therefore thought' it 
advisable to add as a key to its better understanding— 

1. Joshua Hett Smith's house. 

2. Andreas Miller's house. 

3. Boyd's quarters. (Here the party were halted by Cap- 

tain Boyd's sentry.) 

4. Presbyterian church, Crompond Corner. 

5. Strang's (or Mead's) Tavern. 
C. Major Strang's house. 

7. Mrs. Underbill's house. 

8. Stevenson Thome's house. 

9. Sylvanus Brundage's house. 

10. Mekeel's Corners. 

11. Staats Hammond's house. 

13. Scene of the Capture, Tarrytown. 

13. Isaac Eeed's house. East Tarrytown. 

14. Foshay house. 

15. John Bobbins house, Kiensico. 

16. Sands' Mills. (The present Armonk.) 

17. John Gilbert's house. South Salem. 

18. The Bed Mills (Putnam County). 

19. The Cox (or Odell) House, Mahopac Falls 

20. St. Peter's Church, North Peekskill. 

21. The Hollman House, North Peekskill. 

22. The Eobinson House. 

23. Fort Putnam, West Point. 

24. John Coe's house. 

25. The Mabie Tavern, Tappan. 



